Summer Daze
by Helena Mira
Summary: Summer arrives and Hal is off to Cal Tech, Butch is playing Little League, and Prudence is going to Brownie Camp. But things are still happening as the family waits for the birth of the baby. An out of town baseball game, a fierce storm and a wild rescue cause a few of Aunt Henrietta's premonitions to pan out, but not necessarily as she had predicted
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own some of these characters and make no profit from their use. But I also don't make any profit from the characters of my own creation either. But that's life in the world of fan fiction!_

**Summer Daze**

**Prologue**

As the time drew closer for him to leave for Cal Tech, young Hal Everett became more concerned about leaving his Mom at home. She was now over seven months pregnant. Pasadena was only about an hour northeast of town, but he knew that the program would keep him so busy that he wouldn't even be able to go home for a visit. Mom and Dad promised to try to come up to see him on a weekend or two, but he knew that even that relatively short drive could be tough on her. And these days, Dad never left her side except for a very short time.

Since his biggest worry was Mom taking care of herself before the baby was born, he told them just to stay home. He told them that he wanted to prove that he could be independent and manage on his own. Dad told him that he was proud of him, but Mom knew the truth. When Dad wasn't looking, she gave him one of her grateful smiles. But he was still worried.

Finally, he decided that he would talk to his friend Topher about it. Topher was the best guy that he knew. And Topher really loved Mom's sister Trelawney. He thought that he could count him to watch over them both, kind of like a guardian angel. Last summer, Topher had been in the same advanced summer science program as he was. That was how he had met him. But this summer he had to get a job so that he could earn money for college.

In a year, Topher was going to graduate from high school. His family didn't have a lot of money and that meant that he could only go to the college that he could afford to pay for himself. His twin sisters Rebecca and Rachel were right behind him. His other sister Sarah was going to Our Lady of Mercy, a private school, with Trelawney in the fall. She could only go because she had a full scholarship. Then there were two other little girls in the family. Everyone said that Topher was going to get a full scholarship for college, but he wasn't taking any chances.

Topher was the kind of guy that didn't like to rely on other people to take care of him. He was the kind of guy who took care of other people. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have to ask his Dad for any money. But he also knew that even if he didn't ask, his father would make him take it anyway if he thought that he needed it.

He wanted to make sure that his Dad didn't think that. So when a family friend had offered him a job working for his landscaping company, he grabbed it. It was hard work, out in the hot sun all day, but as usual Topher wasn't complaining. He said that there were lots of kids who couldn't find summer jobs like his. He was lucky to have it.

Finally one afternoon, he called up Topher and they agreed to meet at the ice cream stand near the community theatre downtown. Hal tried to pay, but Topher wouldn't let him. But that was Topher. You want to ask the guy for a favor and he wouldn't even let you buy him a milkshake. In fact, he even paid for yours. It was no use protesting. It was just the kind of person that he was.

"So, Everett," he said when they were sitting at a picnic table in the shade. "What can I do you for?"

"Well, Toph," he answered. "It's like this. I have to go away to Cal Tech for eight weeks. I mean, I'm looking forward to it and all, but I'm worried about Mom and Trelawney while I'm away. Aunt Henrietta is still living in town. She hasn't come around since Grammy threatened to sic the dogs on her, but I know that she'll be back. She always comes back."

Topher looked serious.

"It's hard to understand how there could be such a nut job like her in your Mom's family," he said. "She's totally cool, and so are her cousins Emmeline and Sylvia, and her uncle David, and that other guy who was at the science fair."

"Cousin Lewis," filled in Hal. "Yeah, well that's the Figalilly side of the family. Aunt Henrietta is the other side. And the grandfather on that side is almost as crazy as she is. Uncle Charlie is normal, but they wouldn't listen to him when he told them to just leave Trelawney alone. They won't back down until she goes back to the village. But Aunt Henrietta also says all this stuff that sounds like the end of the world is coming. And then she goes and blames it all on Trelawney."

"When I saw her at Trelawney's party, I knew that it was something like that," he said. "When I told Mom about it, she said that she's been ranting and raving like that since she came to town. She told me that it's none of my business, but, well, you know me. I can't see anything like that happen and I don't want to stand up for the person that it's happening to."

"I know that you're talking about Trelawney, but she's gotten pretty good at standing up for herself, at least where Aunt Henrietta is concerned," Hal told him. "It's Mom that I'm worried about. She has always been the strong one, but now she has the baby to worry about. She gets upset whenever Aunt Henrietta brings her a message from her Mum and Papa. And Dad really blew his cork a couple of weeks ago when she brought him a message from my Mom. It's not what she does. It's what she says. She's crazy."

Now Topher looked mad. He looked the way that he had when Aunt Henrietta wrecked Trelawney's party. Topher was one of the most easy going guys that he knew, but not when innocent people were being hurt. Last summer he defended Mom when some of the guys in the summer program were hassling her because she was so pretty. Then he defended Trelawney when a reporter started hassling her. But Aunt Henrietta wasn't just hassling, she was harassing Mom and Trelawney. He knew that Dad, Grammy, and Grampie were worried about the baby too.

"Well, Everett," he finally said. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of them. Francine's kooky mother knows everything that she says. She tells Francine and Francine tells Sarah. I know that Sarah will tell me if she says anything too whacky. You'll see. Everything will be okay."

Hal looked at him. He didn't know how he knew it, but he trusted Topher to take care of everything while he was gone. For about the millionth time since he had met him, Hal wanted to be like him when he grew up.

**Brownie Camp**

Prudence didn't understand why Mommy was so sad that Hal was going away for his special program. She had been really, really proud of him when he won the science fair. But now she said that she was really, really, really, gonna miss him. She didn't think that it was fair. Hal hardly ever spent any time with Mommy. How could she miss him so much? She still had her and Butch, and Daddy and Trelawney, _and _Grammy and Grampie. Daddy was even having a "sabba-something" so that he could stay at home with her almost all the time.

On the day that he was leaving, they all had to get in the car and drive him up to school. It was a long, hot drive because there was a lot of traffic on the freeway. Butch complained, but Daddy gave him one of his "one more word out of your mouth and you'll be sorry" looks. Butch shut up and she decided that maybe she didn't want to complain either, not out loud anyway.

She still complained in her head. She looked at Butch and saw that he was complaining in his head too. But the college campus was really nice. And at least they got to walk around. Hal liked his roommate a lot. Prudence knew that he wasn't going to miss them as much as Mommy was going to miss him. But he promised to write lots of letters when she kissed him goodbye.

On the way home, Daddy stopped for ice cream to cheer them up. Butch whispered to her that he didn't need to be cheered up. He was cheered up the minute that they left Hal at the college because now he had their room all to himself for two months. But he would pretend that he did to get free ice cream. She decided to pretend too. Mommy was the one who really needed to be cheered up, but she didn't want any ice cream. She wanted watermelon, but they didn't have any. So she just looked sad.

The next day was her first day of Brownie camp. She was really excited because her friend Amy was going too. Amy's Mommy said that after last summer, she didn't want Amy at home under foot all day long again. She said that Amy drove her crazy.

When Daddy dropped her off at camp, she gave him a kiss goodbye and ran off because she saw Amy. There were little girls running around all over the place, laughing and yelling. Prudence had never seen so many girls all in the same place at the same time before. She knew some of them from Brownies and some of them from school but they were all so mixed up that she felt like she didn't know anyone except Amy.

Then a big girl who she didn't know blew a whistle and told them to quiet down. She told everyone to sit down and listen so that she could divide them up into their groups. That was when Prudence got scared. What would happen if she and Amy were in different groups? Amy was her best friend in the whole, wide world.

But she really didn't have to worry. When the big girl called out the names, she and Amy were in the same group, the Fireflies. They would be together for the whole summer. But then she saw something that made her squeal with joy. Their counselor was another big girl that she did know. Topher's sister Rachel was going to be her counselor. She ran up to Rachel and gave her a big hug.

"I didn't know that _you _were going to be here!" she cried.

"Well I didn't know that _you_ were going to be here until I got my list this morning!" answered Rachel with a big smile. "I knew that there couldn't be any other little girl in town named Prudence!"

Prudence beamed in pleasure.

"Rachel," she said. "This is Amy. She is my very best friend in the whole, wide world."

"Well, I pleased to meet you Amy," said Rachel. "I am sure that we are _all _going to be very good friends this summer."

She smiled when Amy and Prudence hugged each other. Then she told them to come with the others so that they could make a friendship circle and get to know each other. They all walked away together to a shady area that had a little shed with no walls and a picnic table. It even had its own campfire place.

Rachel told them to sit on the logs around the campfire. Then she explained that every day when their Mommies and Daddies dropped them off at camp that this is where they should come. It was their unit called "Fireflies' Fancy."

Prudence raised her hand.

"What it is, Prudence?" asked Rachel.

"I know what a fancy is," she said.

"So do I," interrupted another taller girl. "Everybody knows what fancy is."

Prudence knew that it was not right to call out, so she just looked at Rachel. But Rachel just kept smiling.

"I don't think that Prudence said that she knew what fancy meant," she said. "I think that she meant _a_ fancy. What is _a_ fancy, Prudence?"

"A fancy is something that you want," she said. "My Mommy is English. Whenever she wants something that she likes, she says that she has a fancy for it."

"Very good, Prudence," said Rachel. "We call this unit 'Fireflies' Fancy' because it's the place where the Fireflies want and like to be."

Prudence could feel her face smiling even bigger because she knew by the way that Rachel was smiling that she liked her answer. But just like always, she had to keep talking.

"Did you know that my Mommy is going to have a baby?" she asked. "She fancies funny things like fish and chips, but she puts vinegar on them and Butch says that that's gross. Butch hopes that the baby is going to be a boy because he says that one annoying sister is enough. But I want a sister because I think that two annoying brothers are enough and then me and my baby sister will be able to fight with my brothers together. Do you think that if my Mommy has a baby sister that someday she will be a Brownie and come to Brownie camp?"

The other girls all giggled. Even the one who thought that she knew what a fancy was. Rachel stopped smiling so much. She was getting the look on her face that Mrs. Mack got in school when she explained something. It was her "you're talking too much and getting us off the topic look."

"I'm sorry," said Prudence. "I didn't mean to monopolize the conversation."

Rachel smiled a real smile again and told her to try not to monopolize it in the future. Prudence nodded very hard. One of the other girls asked if monopolize was like Monopoly. Prudence opened her mouth to answer, but Rachel gave her the "you need to let this drop right now" look, so she closed her mouth.

Then Rachel asked the little girl what her name was and to tell them something about herself. The little girl was named Jeannie and didn't care about what monopolize meant anymore. She wanted to talk about herself.

When Daddy had told her that she was going to Brownie camp in the summer, she was upset because she would be away from Mommy all day. She was afraid that she would miss Mommy and Mommy would miss her. But Mommy said that she wanted Prudence to have fun playing with the other girls, swimming, and making arts and crafts. And then she reminded her about last summer when she was bored when she wasn't at Bible School.

Prudence thought about it and decided that Mommy was being very brave. Since Hal was away and Butch and Trelawney were busy with their things all day, she would only have Daddy to keep her company, until the baby came that was. But now she was happy that she was at camp. She liked being with Amy all day. And she liked being a Firefly. And she especially liked having Rachel for her counselor. Rachel let her hold her hand when they went from activity to activity.

Prudence had never had a big girl friend like Rachel before. Trelawney was a big girl too, but she was different. She was sad sometimes and didn't want to play. Rachel was never sad. In fact, Rachel was always smiling, even when they got over-excited and she had to make them sit down on their hands. And she found out that she could tell Rachel _anything._

Rachel knew what it was like to have a Mommy who was going to have a baby. She had three little sisters. Prudence was worried that when Mommy had the baby that it was going to hurt. But Rachel told her not to worry. Once the baby was born the pain went away.

She was also worried because when the baby came Mommy might not have any more time for her. But Rachel told her not to worry again. When her Mommy had had her babies she always had time for her and her twin sister Rebecca. That was the thing that Prudence liked the most about Rachel

When she told the grown ups at home about her worries, they just told her not to worry. But Rachel _knew _about her worries. She could always tell her _why _she didn't have to worry because she had been there. Prudence decided that someday she was going to be a camp counselor just like Rachel. And then when other little girls told her about their worries, she could tell them not to worry because she had been there.

Everyday when she came home from camp, the first person that she wanted to see was Mommy. She wanted to make sure that she was still okay. Then, after she knew that she was okay, she would make sure that the baby was okay. She would put her hand on Mommy's tummy and the baby would kick. She and Mommy would look at each other and smile.

"Why does she always kick when I put my hand on your tummy, Mommy?" she asked one day.

"That's her way of saying hello," said Mommy. "She knows that you're her big sister.

"Oh," asked Prudence. "Do you think that she will be mad at me if she is a he and I've been calling him her all this time?"

"If she is a he, then I am sure that he will forgive you," answered Mommy with a smile.

"But I think that you think that she is a she," said Prudence.

"Yes, I do," said Mommy. "But we won't know for sure until she is born."

"When is that going to be?" she asked. "It feels like we've been waiting forever."

"Sometimes it feels like that to me too," said Mommy with a sigh. "But the doctor thinks that it will be in about six weeks."

"Is six weeks a long time?" asked Prudence.

"It's a long time if you're waiting for a baby to come," said Daddy as he walked into the room. He walked right over to Mommy and gave her a kiss on her head. Then he put his hand on her tummy just like Prudence had. He and Mommy looked at each other and smiled.

"Did the baby kick, Daddy?" asked Prudence.

"Yes, she did," answered Daddy. "That's because she knows that I'm her Daddy."

"She's a very smart baby," said Prudence. "She already knows me and you, and she's not even born yet."

Mommy gave her one of her soft, happy smiles. Daddy patted her head and told her that she was a very smart girl too. Now that she knew that Mommy and the baby were fine, she wanted to go see her friend Mary Jane Shuster.

"I'm going to see Mary Jane," she said. "I'll leave you three alone."

Mommy and Daddy laughed as if she had just said something very funny. She didn't see what was funny at all.

"Prudence," said Daddy. "Before you leave, do you want to hear the letter that we got from Hal today?"

Prudence was silent for a minute. She knew that Mommy and Daddy wanted her to say yes, but she didn't want to say yes. Two days ago Hal had sent them a letter and it was a very long letter. Daddy had read it to everyone at dinner. It told them lots and lots of stuff about his science program. Prudence would have liked the letter a lot more if it was shorter, but Mommy liked that it was a very long letter. She wanted to know everything that he was doing.

"No thank you," she said. "I can wait until you read the letter later."

"Aren't you interested in what your brother is doing?" asked Mommy.

"No, not really," she said. "Do you think that he is interested in what I'm doing?"

"Well," answered Daddy. "You know that he is very busy in his program. He has a lot of important things to think about."

"Okay," she said. "I'm very busy in Brownie camp. I have a lot of important things to think about too. But if I had time, I would be interested."

As she left them, she could hear them laughing together. Sometimes she just didn't understand grown ups at all.

**Baseball Star**

When Dad told him that Grampie would be driving him to all his practices and games so that he could stay home with Mom, he apologized a whole lot. It was hard for Butch to tell him that he liked it better that way. Butch liked it when he had time alone with Grampie. He was a really cool guy and didn't embarrass him.

He liked it better when there weren't a whole bunch of people at his games anyway. It seemed like the whole family had come to all his games this spring. At first it was kind of neat, but then it was a pain. In fact all the guys on the team thought it was a pain.

Once they started to win all their games, everyone's family brought a lot of people to see them play. Since hardly anyone came to see them when they were on a losing streak, it was pretty cool. But then it seemed like everyone had an opinion. And they had lots of advice. And they liked to give it loudly.

Coach told them to ignore it, but it was kind of hard. Sometimes when the guys were running on base they got confused between the Dads' voices and the coaches' voices. So Coach told them to watch the signals. He told the same thing to the pitchers. But it really bugged him when he was trying to get those last few outs. At first it made him nervous that he might do something wrong and they would be mad because he didn't listen to them. Then he figured out that they didn't know what they were talking about so it annoyed him.

Coach tried to tell him that if he were ever a major league player then he would have to hear lots of people yelling lots of things at him. But Butch didn't want to think about being a major league player. Right now he just wanted to survive Little League. So he learned to ignore the people yelling. Coach had told him to "tune them out" and "get in the zone." He didn't know what that meant, so he just ignored them.

One of the great things about having Grampie drive him to his games was that they had lots of time to talk when the games were far away. They talked about lots of stuff. Butch decided that it was easier to talk to Grampie than to talk to Dad. Dad didn't always know what to say to him.

He had lots of things to say to Hal because they both liked science so much. But Butch didn't really like science. In fact he didn't really like school. One day, when they were going to a really far away game, he told Grampie that he was afraid that Dad was going to make him go to college.

"Don't you want to go to college?" asked Grampie in a surprised voice.

"No, not really," he said honestly. "Everybody says that it's harder than elementary school. That's hard enough. Besides, I don't think that I'm smart enough to go to college."

"What makes you think that?" asked Grampie in his curious voice.

"Well," he said. "Whenever I don't understand something that is really easy for Hal then he says I'm a dummy. I figure that he's right."

"Why is that?"

"When he explains things to Trelawney she always understands them," he answered. "She says that Hal is the best math and science teacher that she ever had."

"Well, just because she thinks that he is a great teacher for her doesn't mean that he's a great teacher for you," said Grampie.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Butch.

"As sure as I can be about anything," he answered. "You see, Butch, I think that you're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for. Kids like Hal and Trelawney like to learn things by reading them and talking about them. But admit it, you really don't like to read, do you?"

"No, sir," admitted Butch, feeling a little ashamed of himself.

"Now don't go feeling bad about that," said Grampie. "What are the things that you do better than Hal? And you know that there are a few."

"Well, I play baseball better than him," he said. "And I build and paint things better. And I play Monopoly better."

"There now, you see," said Grampie.

"See what?" Now Butch was confused.

"Hal likes to learn things in books," said Grampie. "And you like to learn things by doing them. Hal likes to learn about things, but you like to learn by doing things."

"You know, Grampie," answered Butch. "I think that you could be on to something. Does that mean that I don't have to go to college?"

"That means," he said seriously. "That you're too young to make that decision. Kids like Hal know that they want to go to college because they know what they want to learn. But there are a lot of things out there that you've never even heard of. Someday you might want to do something like that. But if you don't go to college then you might never hear about them."

"Oh," said Butch. "When did you know that you wanted to be an engineer?"

"I never thought about it much until I went to college," he said. "You see no one in my family had ever been to college before. In fact my Dad never finished the eighth grade because he had to go out and work so that he could earn money to help support his family. There were a lot of kids in his family and his father was sick all the time. He was the oldest, so he had to be the man of the house. But when my turn came along, he had saved his money so that I could have the education that he couldn't."

"What did he do?" asked Butch.

"He was a ditch digger," explained Grampie. "He dug out the tunnels under the rivers around New York City so that they could make the subways."

"Did he like it?"

"Not really," said Grampie. "It was backbreaking work in those days, but it was the only job that he could get."

"Because he never finished the eighth grade," said Butch.

"Yes," said Grampie. "He made me go to college so that I would have a better life than he did. He was very proud when I got my degree and even prouder when your Dad got his PhD. He never dreamed that a grandson of his could go so far."

"Do you think that he would be mad at me if I didn't go to college?" asked Butch. "I mean since he's in heaven and can see everything down here."

"That's hard to say, Butch," answered Grampie. "But if you didn't try your hardest and do your best to succeed in life then he would certainly be disappointed."

"Oh."

Butch felt different now. He had never thought that he could actually be _lucky _to go to college. But he also never thought that he could get stuck being a ditch digger. Maybe going to college wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe he would be like Grampie and find something that he really wanted to do for the rest of his life there.

But right now he wanted to think about baseball. It was a little disappointing because after being on an undefeated team all spring, the travel team wasn't so good. Whenever he was called in to save a game, he saved it, but they didn't win every game. Grampie told him not to be discouraged.

"It's really very unusual for a team to have an undefeated season," he explained. "Your travel team isn't a bad team, they just don't win all the time. And they do win more games than they lose. That's the important thing."

"Yeah, I guess," said Butch. "But it's a lot more fun to win than it is to lose."

"Point well taken," said Grampie. "But you appreciate winning more if you lose sometimes. And playing really good teams makes you all better players. You don't have to try as hard to beat the easy teams."

Butch thought about it. Coach had told them the same thing. But it was hard for him to see it. He only went into the game when they were ahead or only down by one run. Coach said that he didn't want to waste him in a game that they were probably going to lose anyway. But that meant that he had to sit on the bench the whole time. That kind of stunk if they had to drive a long way just so that he could sit on the bench.

Butch didn't always like playing in away games. In the town games they played in the spring, everyone pretty much knew everyone on both teams. They only encouraged their own teams. But in the travel league when they went to other towns where they didn't know anybody, sometimes the other team's fans yelled out mean stuff. That made them mad, but there wasn't anything that they could do about it.

When those teams came to their town, Coach made sure that everyone was nice, even the fans. He said that his guys were going to show good sportsmanship even if the other guys weren't. Coach was right. Even Butch knew that two wrongs didn't make a right, but it would have been nice to give one of those teams a taste of their own medicine, just for once.

There was one team that had been really mean to them when they played them out of town. They were mad when they lost. They had been ahead until the ninth inning when Butch's team pulled ahead by one run. Then Butch came in to close it.

"You pitch like a girl!" yelled one kid from the stands.

But Butch just rolled his eyes. If that guy thought that he pitched like a girl, then he had never seen a girl pitch before. Besides, he had learned a long time ago not to listen to anyone in the stands, even if they were his own fans. When he sent the last batter down looking, on strikes, the other fans booed. Some of them said that the ump was blind and that the last pitch had been outside by a mile.

Butch and his friends wanted to teach them a lesson, but Coach told them that the only ones who were going to learn any lessons were they. They were going to learn how to get off the field without starting a fight. Besides, they had already taught the other team a lesson. They had beaten them, fair and square.

Then that team came to their town. Unfortunately, they brought their fans with them. Since it was a big game, Mom told Dad that she wanted to come. So of course that meant that everyone else had to be there: Prudence, Trelawney, Grammy, Grampie, even Nana, and Papa. Nana made sure that she sat next to Mom so that she could keep an eye on her. It was a hot day and she didn't want her to get sick again.

The other team's fans were real obnoxious again. Butch knew that the parents and friends that were there for his team were getting really mad. Since the other team's fans were yelling, Butch's team's fans were yelling too. Things kind of got out of control. Even Coach couldn't keep their fans quiet. There was so much yelling that the umpire had to stop the game twice and tell them not to yell so much.

All that yelling made both teams nervous. They made a lot of errors, and so both teams scored a lot of runs. By the time that they got to the ninth inning, Butch's team was ahead by two runs. Normally closing out a game with a two run lead was no big deal, but then the shouting began again, louder than ever.

Butch struck out the first batter, but then the next batter hit an easy grounder to the shortstop. He booted it and the guy got on base. That was when the yelling got _really_ loud. The people who were making fun of the shortstop were starting to argue with the people trying to defend him.

It didn't bother Butch, but the catcher wasn't paying attention because of all the noise in the stands. The runner at first went to steal second and he threw the ball too high for the shortstop to catch. The ball went into the outfield and the runner scored. All Butch could do was shake his head. He turned to concentrate on the next batter, but he could tell that the guys behind him in the field were getting real nervous. The fans in the stands from both teams were yelling at each other louder than ever, calling each other names and stuff. Then he slipped up.

He threw a fastball over the sweet part of the plate and the batter whaled on it for a homer. The kid circled the bases and Butch circled the mound talking to himself. Coach came out to see him.

"Do you want me to take you out?" he asked.

Butch was surprised. "Don't you think that I can do it?"

Coach smiled. "I _know_ that you can do it. The question is, do you _think_ that you can do it?"

"Heck, yeah," he said.

"What about all the yelling in the stands?" Coach asked.

"What about it?" Butch asked.

Coach patted him on the back and told him to do his best. Butch looked up in the stands and saw Trelawney. She was smiling at him and pointed farther up the stands. He noticed that a couple of the Dads from the other team with the biggest mouths were making a toast with big soda cups. Then he saw them hit the cups too hard against each other so that they were both covered in soda. He laughed and thought, "serves them right."

Seeing those two guys get what they deserved calmed him down and he retired the next two batters on strikes. He didn't trust his own fielders not to screw up. But now he had to trust his teammates to score a run so that they would not have to go into extra innings. It wasn't that he didn't trust them to do it, he was just afraid because they were too nervous. So he told them about the two guys covered with soda in the stands. That made they laugh and loosened them up. Coach patted him on the back again and called him a good man.

The first guy up on Butch's team hit a single. The next guy struck out. After the third guy walked, they had a runner in scoring position. Things were getting intense for Butch. He was due to be on deck. That meant that if the guy ahead of him didn't get the go ahead run home, then he would have to go to the plate. Or coach could send in a pinch hitter and hope that he got the run home. If the score were still tied at the end of the inning, then they would go into extra innings. If Butch didn't bat, then he would be out of the game for good.

Before he went to the on deck circle, he looked over at Coach. He gave him the nod, so he grabbed a bat and started to swing. The kid batting at the plate was definitely not one of the best batters on their team. He had a bad eye and always seemed to swing at "junk." If he wasn't such an amazing center fielder, Butch doubted that he would even be on the team.

Fortunately, the guy didn't have to worry about hitting because he got hit with the first pitch. That was when the trouble started.

"Hey, ump!" yelled one guy in the stands. "Are you blind? That kid wanted to get hit by the ball. He stepped right into it."

"Are you kidding?" yelled another guy. "That pitcher has no control. He's lucky that he hasn't hit half the team already."

"Are you calling my son a lousy pitcher?" yelled another guy.

"What do you think?"

"I think that you'd better shut up or you're gonna get a fat lip," he answered.

"And I don't think that you have the guts to do it," he said.

Butch rolled his eyes. "Great," he thought, "who knows if I'm ever going to bat?" The bases were loaded with one out. He knew that he was either going to be the hero of the game or the goat. Knowing him, he would either score the winning run or hit into a double play. He didn't like having so much time to think about it. The umpire must have been sick and tired of the parents yelling at each other because he ejected all of the yellers.

Right before he went up to the plate, he caught Trelawney's eye. She was sitting next to Mom like she always did when things got tight. She would hold her hand because Dad would stand up to watch and pace up and down in front of the stands. Trelawney gave him a smile and a nod. It was like she knew what was going to happen or something. It was one of those times that he was glad that she was so weird. He had this feeling that her weirdness was about to work in his favor.

As he stood in the batter's box, he felt real calm. It was almost like all of the yelling and shouting and cheering was going on around him, but he couldn't hear it. He saw the ball coming towards him. He took a mighty swing and hit it as hard as he could. It flew into the outfield far and deep. The right fielder went out for it and caught it on the run. He saw the third base runner touch the bag and run home as fast as he could.

But the right fielder barely hit the cutoff man. The throw wasn't even close. Butch had hit a sacrifice fly to win the game. He didn't even know how he did it, because he had never hit a ball so far before. But he did it and his team won the game. He was glad. Now maybe that other team would learn to shut up for once.

When he got back to the family, Trelawney said, "Smashing job, Butch! And I do mean smashing!"

"Aw, it wasn't a big deal," said Butch. "Any of the guys could have done it."

"Well, the important thing," said Papa. "Is that you did it when it needed to be done. You certainly were calm, cool, and collected out there. Pretty good for a ten year old!"

"Yeah," said Butch. "I guess so. But it helps to know that my family is behind me."

"That does always help," said Dad.

"And helps that you guys are quietly behind me, you know, not yelling and stuff," he added.

"Oh," said Grampie. "You don't like it when your fans cheer for you?"

"It's not the cheering," admitted Butch. "That's kind of cool. It's the advice. Especially when people don't know what they're talking about."

"I guess that that could be a little distracting," said Papa.

"And how," nodded Butch. "Coach says that if I ever make the majors then I'll have to deal with it. But I don't care about that now. I just want all those crazy fans to shut up right now."

"But what if you make the majors?" asked Grampie.

"I'll deal with it then," said Butch.

Everyone laughed. But Butch just rolled his eyes. The whole conversation was ridiculous. He wasn't ever going to make the majors.

**Weekend Visit**

Prudence was very happy because after Brownie camp one Friday, Nana and Papa were going to pick her up and she was going to get to spend the _whole_ weekend with them. She liked spending the weekend with them now, especially since Nana had decided that she didn't just like Mommy, she loved Mommy. But the other reason that she liked to visit them was because she had them all to herself. That never happened at home anymore.

At home, it felt like Mommy and Daddy were always together and when they were together all they ever cared about was the baby. And it seemed like Grammy was always with Trelawney (when Trelawney wasn't with Mommy) and Butch was always with Grampie. But she didn't have any special grown up of her own.

When she went to Nana and Papa's house, then she had them all to herself, especially Nana. She and Nana did lots of things together, like her and Mommy used to do, until Mommy married Daddy. And sometimes Nana would smooth back her hair and smile at her, just like Grammy did to Trelawney.

Whenever she went to Nana's house she showed her pictures of her angel Mommy when she was a little girl. Prudence really liked the pictures of her angel Mommy as a dancer. Prudence told Nana that she wanted to keep taking dancing lessons so that she could be a dancer like her angel Mommy.

The other nice thing about Nana and Papa was that they let her talk anytime she wanted to and as much as she wanted to. They never told her that she was monopolizing the conversation. And they never laughed at the things that she said (even though sometimes they smiled). One time when she was talking and talking, she asked Nana if she minded. But Nana said that she could never talk to her too much. She loved to hear her talk. It reminded her of her angel Mommy.

"Did my angel Mommy like to talk too?" she asked.

"Yes, she did," said Nana. "We talked every day when she came home from school and she told me all about her day."

"I talk to Mommy too about my day," said Prudence. "But on school days I have to share her with Butch and now I have to share her with Daddy."

"So you don't like sharing her?" asked Nana.

"Sometimes," said Prudence. "But sometimes I wish that I could be like Trelawney and not share her."

"What do you mean?" asked Nana.

"Well," explained Prudence. "Trelawney doesn't have to go to school. So Mommy spends her days with her. They play with Trelawney's dollhouse and Trelawney tells stories."

"Do you ever play with Trelawney's dollhouse?" asked Papa.

"No," said Prudence. "But me and Trelawney play with my dollhouse. But we can only play with my dolls. Trelawney's dolls are just for her dollhouse. Me and Trelawney play with other dolls too. We have tea parties with Tessa and Sally. Tessa is Trelawney's doll. They come to visit sometimes. Trelawney has a tea set like I do. Only it's made of real china, like Mommy's, only smaller. But it's still in the village. Cousin Sylvia promised that someone would bring it for her because they're afraid it will break if they ship it."

"That's all very interesting," said Nana. "But doesn't Trelawney have her theatre program during the day now?"

"Yes," answered Prudence. "But sometimes Mommy and her still play. Hal told me that when the baby comes then Mommy is going to spend lots of time with her when we are in school."

"Well, I'm sure that that's true," said Nana. "Did you ever tell your Mommy that you want to spend some time with her?"

"No," said Prudence. "Hal told me that it was selfish. And Grammy told me that I can't expect to spend extra time with her just because I never had a Mommy before. I mean I never had an earth Mommy before that I can remember that is. I mean I _do _know that Mommy isn't my first Mommy. My angel Mommy is my first Mommy.

"I can't spend time with an angel Mommy, but Trelawney told me that when I want to see her, then I can look in the mirror and she'll look back at me because I look just like her at her age. She looks like _her_ angel Mommy too and when she wants to see her she looks in the mirror. I tried it, so I know she's right, but it's not the same as spending time with Mommy."

Papa and Nana looked at each other the way that people did when she talked a lot. It was a combination of looking confused and trying not to laugh.

"Does Trelawney think that it's selfish for you to want to spend time alone with your Mommy?" asked Papa.

"No, she said that everyone should be able to spend time alone with their Mommies, just like she spends time alone with her Mama Kate," said Prudence. "She only said that it was selfish that we wanted loot, you know, lots of presents, whenever our relatives came to visit us. You see until Mommy and Daddy got married no one ever hardly came to see us. I told Daddy about the loot on accident. Then Daddy told Hal . . ."

"Prudence, why don't we stick to talking about how you want to spend more time with your Mommy," interrupted Papa.

"Okay," said Prudence. But she was a little surprised because it was the first time that Nana or Papa had ever made her stick to the topic before. And they weren't smiling either. She wondered what was wrong. Maybe she had said the wrong thing. Maybe they were going to tell her that she was being selfish too. But she was wrong.

"I don't think that it's selfish to want to ask your Mommy to spend more time alone with you," said Nana nicely.

"That's what Rachel said," answered Prudence.

"Who is Rachel?" asked Nana.

"She's my counselor at Brownie camp," said Prudence. "I really like her because I can tell her stuff and she can understand because she's been there."

"What do you mean?" asked Nana with a smile.

"Well, Rachel has a twin sister and three little sisters," said Prudence. "So she's always had to share her Mommy. But I never had a sister until Trelawney came and she was like a sister because she was really Mommy's sister. But now I'm going to have a baby sister, I think. Mommy said that we won't know until she's born and then she might be a brother, but I don't think that that would be fair."

"Why is that?" asked Papa. He was smiling again too.

"Because then I would have three brothers and no real sisters," explained Prudence. "Did you know that Mommy wants to have the baby at home instead of a hospital? Butch thinks that's gross, but Trelawney said that in the village all the Mommies have babies at home unless the Mommy or the baby are sick. So I guess it's better if she has the baby at home."

"Why?" Nana asked. She looked confused again.

"Because then it means that Mommy and the baby aren't sick," said Prudence patiently. She didn't understand why grown ups couldn't figure out such an obvious thing. She had a feeling that if Hal were here, he would tell her that she was spending too much time with Trelawney. But Trelawney always understood her explanations.

Nana thought a lot about that. Prudence wondered if she was like Grammy. Grammy didn't want Mommy to have the baby at home. Grammy was afraid that something would go wrong, but Grampie said that it was Mommy's choice. Daddy really didn't want the baby born at home either, but that was because he didn't want to be there and Mommy wanted him to be there. She said that in the village all the husbands were with their wives when the babies were born.

After that, they didn't talk about Mommy and the baby. But Nana and Papa had a special treat for her. There was going to be a ballet at the big theatre in their town called "Swan Lake." It was about a black swan and a white swan. It was a very pretty ballet, especially the costumes. She liked sitting and watching it because Nana put her arm around her the whole time. Then on the way home they took her to a special restaurant.

There were a lot of fancy things on the menu, but all Prudence wanted was a hamburger. The waiter was very nice and said that they had hamburgers on the children's menu. But for dessert, Nana told her that instead of chocolate ice cream, she should try chocolate mousse. She wasn't sure about it, but when she tasted it, it tasted like chocolate full of air. It was very yummy.

Then she told Nana that it was her new favorite dessert. That made Nana smile and get happy tears in her eyes. She said that chocolate mousse had been her angel Mommy's favorite dessert. Knowing that made Prudence feel all warm and happy inside.

She couldn't wait to go to camp on Monday so that she could tell Rachel all about "Swan Lake" and chocolate mousse and her angel Mommy. That was another nice thing about Rachel. She always had time to listen to everything that Prudence wanted to tell her. When they were alone, she always let her monopolize the conversation.

When Nana and Papa dropped her off on Sunday night, they told her to go upstairs and get ready for bed because they wanted to talk to Mommy and Daddy. Prudence gave them big, long hugs and kisses and a really big thank you for the wonderful weekend. It was the most wonderful weekend that she had had since Mommy and Daddy got married and had their blessing. Then Nana patted her head and told her that she was her special girl.

Later, when Mommy and Daddy came to tuck her in, Mommy stayed after Daddy left.

"Prudence," she said. "Why didn't you tell me that you wanted more time alone with me? I thought that you didn't want to spend time with me like that anymore because you were getting to be such a big girl."

Prudence didn't know what to say. But Mommy was waiting so she told her the truth. She knew that she couldn't lie to Mommy anyway. It would make Mommy sad and she already looked a little sad.

"Hal told me that I was selfish because sometimes I didn't want to share you," she explained. "And Grammy told me that I couldn't have extra time with you to make up for the times that I didn't have an earth Mommy. So I didn't want you to get mad at me. But I could never get so big that I didn't want to spend time alone with you."

Now Mommy looked even sadder. She gave Prudence a big hug and smoothed back her hair just like she used to do before the baby was coming.

"I love you very much, Prudence," she said. "You are very special to me and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings because I wasn't spending much time alone with you. Now that I know how you feel about it, I am going to make sure that we have more time together, just you and me."

"So you're not mad at me?" asked Prudence.

"I could never be mad at you for wanting more time with me," she said. "It means that you love me. I could never get mad at you for loving me."

"I do love you, Mommy," Prudence nodded. "A whole lot. Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," she said. "You can ask me anything you want."

"Well," she said. "This is something that I've been worrying about. In fact I've been worrying about it so much that I haven't even talked to Rachel about it. And I tell Rachel everything."

"I don't want you to worry about anything," said Mommy. "So you better ask me."

Prudence took a big breath. This was a very scary thing she had to ask. She was really afraid of the answer. But she had a feeling that if she didn't ask it, than it might make Mommy worry anyway. And everybody said that if she worried too much that it wouldn't be good for the baby.

"Mommy," she said. "I know that even though you said that I'm your real little girl now, that I still have an angel Mommy and that I was her little girl first. When you have the new baby, will you love her more than you do me?"

Prudence waited for her answer. She couldn't figure out what Mommy was thinking because she was looking down. Finally she looked up. Prudence knew the answer before she even said a word.

"I will always love you like my real daughter," she said very gently. "I cannot say that I will love any of my children any more than the others. But I will love them differently. I love you differently than I love Butch and Hal because they are my sons, but I love each of the three of you differently because you are all different from each other. Each of my children is a blessing from God. No one of them is a bigger blessing than others."

Then Mommy gave Prudence a big hug. She could feel the baby give her a kick.

"Does that mean that the baby agrees?" asked Prudence.

"That means that the baby agrees."

Mommy held Prudence tight for a very long time. Then she kissed her good night and Prudence snuggled under the covers. Now she had something else to tell Rachel. She could her that her Mommy loved her the same as the baby. But she had a feeling that Rachel would say that she already knew that. After all, she had been there.

_To be continued . . ._


	2. Chapter 2

**The Guardian**

When Hal Everett had asked him to keep an eye on his family while he was out of town, Topher had taken his promise seriously. He knew that Hal's father and grandfather would be around, but they didn't know as much about what was happening in their family and around town as he did.

His Mom knew all the gossip on the street. She was probably friends with half the ladies in town and some of them swore by Princess Lotus Garden or whatever her name was to give them "guidance."

"The Princess" as they called her supposedly was in contact with "the other side," wherever that was. She would chat it up with some chick named Rosalie and then she would pass along the goods from their departed family members. And then the suckers would pass along the bread to the Princess.

It was a pretty neat scam for the old bag, but she couldn't leave it at that. In addition to her words of "wisdom," every once in a while she started to go off on Hal's mom and her sister Trelawney like the apocalypse was coming or something.

Trelawney was probably the sweetest kid that he ever met. She was impossible to understand, but that didn't matter. She was good, really good, and never had a bad word to say about anyone, except the Princess. But she didn't really say anything _bad _about her. She just didn't want to go anywhere near her if she could help it.

He also never met anyone who was such an amazing musician before. And it seemed like she had read every play that Shakespeare ever wrote. His sister Sarah told him all about her medieval stories. She was kind and gentle to everyone and when people were mean to her, she just didn't understand it. She just cried.

His sister Sarah's two best friends were Trelawney and another girl named Francine. He had met Francine last summer. She was a pretty cool kid too. She was a real pretty girl and came off as kind of snooty until you got to know her. But she was very smart and talented. And she took care of Trelawney like she was a little sister. The only problem that she had was her kooky mother, Mrs. Fowler.

Her mother drove her crazy because she wouldn't leave her alone to do her own thing, _and_ she was the biggest gossip in town. Most of the time Francine was embarrassed because her Mom had such a big mouth and couldn't mind her own business. She was also one of the Princess's closest followers. Topher would have found Mrs. Fowler to be a real pain, if she wasn't so useful. She loved to yack. And these days she spent most of her time yacking about the Princess.

She yacked to his Mom and her friends, and then Mom told them all her crazy stuff. Then she yacked to Francine and Francine told Sarah everything. So Topher knew about everything that the old bat was saying. But the best news that he got that summer was that Hal's younger sister Prudence was in his sister Rachel's group at Brownie camp.

As soon as Topher heard that, he knew that he struck gold. Hal had told him that Prudence never stopped talking. Not only that, but she never stopped talking about family stuff. _And _she just loved to "accidentally" blab secrets. So he asked Rachel to let her talk to her and pass anything along that she said about the Princess. Rachel didn't mind. In fact, she didn't need any encouragement.

"Poor little Prudence," she said. "She feels like everyone at home is so worried about the baby that nobody cares about her anymore."

"Well," he said. "We know all about that. Whenever Mom was pregnant with one of the girls, she grabbed all the attention. That's just the way it is."

"Well," said Rachel. "It's not exactly the same for Prudence. She doesn't ever remember having a mother until her Dad married Mrs. Everett. And when Mrs. Everett was her nanny they did a lot of things together. She was kind of like the mother she never had. But now Mrs. Everett has the baby to think about, as well as her younger sister."

"What about her grandparents?" asked Topher.

"The grandmother has Trelawney to look after and the grandfather is taking care of Butch right now," explained Rachel. "The Professor is spending all his time with his wife because he's on sabbatical, so Prudence feels left out in the cold."

"I'm sorry about that," said Topher. "Why doesn't she just tell Mrs. Everett? She's a cool lady. I'm sure that she's so busy thinking about the baby that she doesn't even realize how Prudence feels."

"I told her that," replied Rachel. "But she said that she doesn't want to be selfish."

"Hmm, well," he said. "Could you let me know if she talks about Princess Lotus Flower?"

"Sure," said Rachel. "But you know that Mom did say that you should mind your own business about that."

"I know," he replied. "But I promised Hal that I would keep an eye on them for him, Mrs. Everett and Trelawney that is. Since I work all day, I'm hoping that I can do that by getting my information from you and Sarah and Mom."

"Well, just don't tell Mom what you're up to," she warned.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll stay out of it unless I think that something really bad might happen. Then Mom won't be able to say anything because you know how she always wants us to do the right thing and take of other people."

Rachel looked at him doubtfully but didn't say anything else. Topher knew Rachel though and he knew that if she were worried about someone then she would stand up for him too. That was just the way that the Tuckers were. Mom and Dad had brought them up to care about other people and to take care of those who couldn't take care of themselves. That was why he and Sarah looked out for Trelawney and now Rachel was looking out for Prudence. He had a feeling that if Mrs. Everett ever needed her that Mom would be the first person to help her.

Topher's summer job was tough. He had to mow lawns, clip hedges, lay mulch and all that kind of landscaping work for the people who lived in the big houses in town who could afford to hire someone to do it for them. It was really hot, and dry, that summer, but he was glad for the job.

His boss was a great guy. He let him borrow the big mower sometimes so that he could mow lawns for some of the older folks in town, no charge. The only payment that he took was a glass of lemonade or ice tea or something like that. He didn't always want it, but he knew that it made his "customers" feel better if he did.

One day he was mowing the lawn for an old lady named Mrs. Sullivan and it was a real scorcher. She not only offered him some lemonade, she insisted that he sit down in the shade and drink it with her. Since it was so hot, he didn't have to think twice before he took up her offer. He also knew that Mrs. Sullivan didn't have a lot of people to talk to. And because it was too hot to do any more lawns that day, he figured that he would sit and shoot the breeze for a while. The old gal was a hoot to listen to anyway.

She liked to go on and on about her kids and her grandkids and her great-grandkids. And she liked to tell him stories about her brothers and sisters. She was the youngest of nine kids and was the only one left. He was enjoying the shade and the lemonade and the sound of her soft, old lady voice when something she said caught his attention.

"I'm sorry," he said politely. "I missed that last name."

"The Princess," she said. "You know, Princess Lotus Flower. I went to her house yesterday because I felt that I really needed to talk to my dear sister Louise. She was the one who was closest to me. Remember? I was baking a strawberry-rhubarb pie from a recipe that she gave me fifty years ago and I just had the oddest feeling that she wanted to tell me something."

"Oh," he said. "Were you right? I mean, did Louise want to talk to you?"

The old woman beamed. "What a nice boy you are! Why most people would have just called me a crazy old lady because I had wanted to talk to my dear, departed sister and you just asked me what she said!"

Topher smiled, thinking that it was a good thing that he had lots of practice pretending to be interested in what other people liked to ramble about. He knew that if he took Mrs. Sullivan seriously, she would tell him everything that she could. But he didn't want to appear too interested. If she started yacking to other folks, he didn't want them to become suspicious because he was interested in the "Princess."

"Well," he said carefully. "I like to keep an open mind about these things. My parents taught me never to judge other people."

"It's obvious that you've been brought up right," she said approvingly. "It seems like there are so few young people these days who have any respect for their elders. They act like they know everything."

Topher began to worry that she was about to change the subject, so he gently steered her back to her visit with the Princess.

"So what did Louise have to say to you?" he asked.

"Oh, well, it was typical Louise," said Mrs. Sullivan, as if she had just talked to her on the phone or something. "She always had to boss me around because she was the older one. She told Rosalie that I wasn't keeping up with the home repairs. You know that this is the old family homestead. She said that I really needed to address those shutters out in front."

Topher watched her seriously, but inwardly he was grinning. All that he Princess had to do was drive by the house to know about the shutters. And it didn't take any great leap of logic to assume that an older sister liked to boss around a younger sister. The old bag might be a wing nut, but she was one smart cookie.

"Well," he said. "I might be able to help you out with those shutters. I'm pretty handy with a hammer and nails. I don't think that it would be a big job at all."

Once again, the old woman beamed in pleasure.

"Why, young man," she said. "This is why I tell everyone that you can't go wrong consulting the Princess. She told me that any good deed that I did today would be returned tenfold, although I must say that a glass of lemonade in exchange for having my shutters repaired is a little more than tenfold."

This time Topher did grin. "You certainly do seem to be right about the Princess. Just think of that!"

"Yes, I will," she said more seriously. "And she gave me something else to think on too. Only it had nothing to do with Louise or the house."

"Oh?" Now Topher's antennae were up. This could be the kind of thing that he was really hoping to hear.

"Yes indeed," she said nodding. "The Princess went into a very deep trance, deeper even than the one that she was able to contact Rosalie for me through."

"Wow!" he said. "Deeper than that?"

"Much deeper," nodded Mrs. Sullivan. "Why she didn't even remember what she had said when it was over."

"Really?" Topher was doing his best to feign interest without making it too obvious.

"She became very still," explained the woman. "Then in a deeper voice than before she said, 'Beware, beware of the blinding light. It portents doom. Three lives hang in the balance. The innocent shall suffer. The two sisters are endangered by the cousin.' It was most frightening. But the minute she came out of it, she began to speak pleasantly again of dear Louise."

Topher let her ramble on until she decided that she needed to go back inside. Then he grabbed the mower and loaded it into the van to return it to his boss. He had already heard about all of her prophecies from his Mom and Sarah. But he had the feeling that she hadn't said anything recently. There was something about the whole thing that made him very uneasy.

Everything that she had said to Mrs. Sullivan during her "conversation" with Rosalie was very reasonable and could be explained. But when she went into the "deep trance," she started to talk crazy. That was the way that it usually went down. When she was telling her clients what they wanted to hear (and were paying for), she made complete, or almost complete, sense. When she started babbling on one of her tangents, she didn't.

Topher had a very scientific mind, but he also knew that there were a lot of things in the universe that could not be explained. Trelawney was certainly one of them, but nobody really felt the need to explain her. After all, she was so good and kind. Aunt Henrietta might seem like a loony-toon, but maybe there was something more to it. He could understand now why Hal was so concerned. Talk like that could really scare people. And when they were scared, then they might do something stupid.

**Fourth of July Celebration**

Butch was excited because the town was hosting a big Fourth of July Celebration. They usually had a big picnic and fireworks at City Park, but this year they had something special planned. In a few years, the bicentennial of the country was coming up and the town wanted to be ready. So they were seeing what were the different kinds of things that people liked to do.

In addition to the picnic and fireworks, there were going to be all kinds of rides and games for the kids and a big tent with music and food sellers, mostly for the adults. There was also going to be an area with booths where vendors were selling all kinds of crafts and handmade furniture and stuff like that. Then after supper, there would be hometown bands playing and finally the fireworks. It was going to be a whole day of nonstop fun and Butch couldn't wait for it.

There was a little scare the day before when Mom said that she didn't want to spend the whole day there and Dad said that he didn't want her to stay home alone. But it was another one of those times when having Grammy and Grampie living up the street was a great thing. They said that they would take him and Prudence and Trelawney early and then Mom and Dad could meet them there for dinner. Then the best news of all came. Uncle Bob showed up all of the sudden for a visit.

Uncle Bob was the richest and nicest uncle that a guy could have. No offense to his Dad, but he was kind of cheap. Butch knew that with Uncle Bob there, he and Prudence would be able to get anything that they wanted. So he knew that it was going to be a great day.

But he warned Prudence to be happy about Uncle Bob coming but not to say anything about the money they knew he would spend on them. Prudence nodded her head up and down so hard that he thought it would fall off. At least for once he could count on her not to tattle. There were a lot of things that were fun to tattle about, but getting free money was definitely not one of them.

So on the big morning they all piled into the station wagon, since Grampie's car wasn't big enough. Mom and Dad were coming later in Arabella. When they got there, Grammy looked around and started to worry.

"I don't know Rob," she said in her concerned tone of voice. "This is awfully big and crowded. Suppose one of the children gets lost?"

"Don't worry, Mother," said Uncle Bob soothingly. "I can take care of the kids and you and Dad can go and enjoy yourselves."

Butch held his breath because Grammy still looked worried. She was looking at Uncle Bob with her "I don't know if I can trust you as far as I can throw you" look. But Grampie laughed when he saw her face.

"Don't worry, Catherine," he said. "As long as Bob brought his wallet, I think that you can be pretty sure that the kids will stick close to him."

Relieved, Butch and Prudence nodded. But Trelawney got a funny look on her face.

"Mama Kate," she said. "I would like to stay close to you today."

"But don't you want to ride on the rides and play the games, dear?" Grammy asked.

"No," she said, taking Grammy's hand. "I want to be with you."

Grammy and Grampie looked at each other with the worried look that they would get when Trelawney was being weird. But right now Trelawney wasn't being all that weird if you knew her. She didn't care about money and doing lots of expensive things and getting lots of presents. She mostly just wanted to do quiet things. But Grammy smoothed back her hair and put her arm around her.

"Would you like to see the arts and crafts, dear?" she asked.

"Yes, please, Mama Kate," she said politely.

That was another weird thing about Trelawney. She was always so polite. And most of the time she didn't even _talk_ like a real kid. But with her funny English accent she sounded like Mom, and she talked like Mom when she used some of the same words. Prudence looked at him and he just shrugged. If she didn't want Uncle Bob to spend his money on her, there would be more money for them.

So he and Prudence went off with Uncle Bob. She wanted to go on the rides and he wanted to play the games. But before they could start arguing, Uncle Bob said that they would go on the rides first, but he would get to pick the first ride. Butch picked this big swinging ride because he knew that Prudence wouldn't like it. It wasn't his favorite ride either, but he wanted to get her back because they were doing her thing first.

When Prudence wasn't looking, Uncle Bob winked at him. He could never fool Uncle Bob, but he was a really cool guy so he wasn't worried. Once he had told him that he was glad that he didn't have any sisters. Especially since Grammy told everyone that she met that she had wanted _him_ to be a girl.

Uncle Bob was really glad that if Mom had a girl, she was going to name her Margaret after her mother. Then maybe Grammy would stop telling everybody that if _he_ had been a girl then _she _would have named her Margaret after _her _mother. Butch hoped that he wouldn't be too glad. Then he might spend lots of money on another annoying little sister. And Butch had a feeling that Mom's baby was going to be spoiled enough by _her _family.

But today, he and Prudence had Uncle Bob all to themselves. He made sure that they rode all the rides they wanted and got everything that they wanted to eat. He made them promise not to tell Grammy that he let them have soda, popcorn, and cotton candy for lunch.

Afterwards, Butch was glad that they had gone on the rides first because if they had gone on them after lunch, then he would have puked. He had this sneaky suspicion that Uncle Bob had known that but he had wanted Prudence to think that she was getting her way. Yes, sirree, no two ways about it, Uncle Bob was a really groovy guy.

They had fun playing the games. Prudence was happy because Uncle Bob won her this really big, huge Teddy bear. He was all proud of himself too, until she got tired of carrying it around. Then he had to carry it, so he decided that they would find Grampie so that he could put it in the car. Since the only thing they knew was that they planned to go where the booths were, they headed out there.

While they were looking for them, they came to a booth that said "Princess Lotus Flower: See into Your Future."

Prudence pointed to it and said, "That's Aunt Henrietta."

"Really?" asked Uncle Bob mischievously. "Our Aunt Henrietta?"

"Mom's Aunt Henrietta," answered Prudence rolling her eyes. "You don't have an Aunt Henrietta, do you?"

Uncle Bob looked at Butch with laughing eyes. He did that whenever Prudence said something dumb, which was most of the time.

"Why don't we pay her a visit?" he asked. "Maybe she can tell us our fortunes."

Now Butch and Prudence looked at each other. Dad would be really mad if he knew that they saw her. And Mom would be all upset.

"I don't think that that is a very good idea," said Butch slowly. "The last time we saw Aunt Henrietta, she was talking all crazy and Grammy threw her out of the house."

"She did?" asked Uncle Bob, a little too eagerly. "How did she do that?"

"She threatened to sic the dogs on her," said Prudence. "Her and Grammy were yelling real loud at each other. Aunt Henrietta was threatening that really bad things would happen if Trelawney didn't go back to England. And Mommy got all scared and upset."

"Yeah," said Butch. "It was really bad, but Grammy gave her what she deserved."

But Uncle Bob looked even more interested than before. Butch had a feeling that something was going to happen that would not be pretty. He had a feeling that somehow Trelawney had known that and that was why she wanted to stay with Grammy. Uncle Bob might be a very smart man, but sometimes he didn't realize that everything wasn't always a big joke.

"Why don't we pay your old auntie a little visit?" asked Uncle Bob.

"I think that's a bad idea," said Butch. "Dad would really blow his cork if he knew."

But if he thought that that would stop Uncle Bob, he was wrong. He realized that his uncle now thought that it would be a good joke on Dad. Now Prudence looked scared.

"I don't want to see her," said Prudence in a trembly voice. "She's really mean, and scary too."

"She's not the least bit scary," laughed Uncle Bob. "She's one of the biggest frauds that I've ever seen, dumb like a fox if you ask me. She's making a small fortune off the suckers who take her nonsense seriously."

"Yeah, maybe," said Butch. "But I still think I'd rather not see her again for a long time."

"Look," said Uncle Bob, starting to get annoyed. "Emmeline told me all about her. She's the family joke. They all agree that she's 'bonkers,' to quote Emmeline, and nobody takes her seriously. Let's all go in and have a laugh."

Butch looked at Prudence and shrugged, but she still looked scared. So Uncle Bob gave Butch the bear and picked her up and they all went into the tent. Aunt Henrietta was sitting in front of a crystal ball wearing a bright red turban and a big, flowey pink thing. She did look kind of funny. He could see that Uncle Bob was trying hard not to laugh out loud. Aunt Henrietta had her eyes closed and was waving her hands in circles next to her head.

"Rosalie! Rosalie! Come here, darling!" she was saying in her freaky voice. "Come, come now, you silly child! There are people who wish to speak to you!"

There was a bunch of ladies, including Mrs. Fowler, who were sitting around the table. "Uh oh!" thought Butch. "Now Dad's sure to hear about this!"

Suddenly, Aunt Henrietta's big eyes popped open.

"An unbeliever has entered!" she squawked, looking directly at Uncle Bob. But he didn't care.

"Hello, Auntie Henrietta!" he said cheerfully. "Long time no see, eh?"

But she just stared at him. Butch wanted to run out, but he was afraid to let go of Uncle Bob's hand. Prudence grabbed his neck tighter. All the ladies in the tent were looking at him too. Some of them looked mad. Some of them looked annoyed. But most of them looked scared. Butch knew that they all believed in her. If he weren't standing there he would have laughed. Aunt Henrietta was a lot funnier when you didn't have to be in the same room with her. Finally, she spoke.

"I know that you are thinking of my niece," she said to Uncle Bob. "You best leave her be or you will come to a bad end also. Bad karma stalks her and her brother."

"That can't be Mrs. Everett," whispered one of the ladies. "She doesn't have a brother does she?"

"No," whispered Mrs. Fowler back loudly. "It must be Emmeline. She has three brothers."

Aunt Henrietta ignored them.

"Rosalie! Rosalie!" she said more loudly. "Come out, darling! Don't play games, dear! We must expose this fool for who he is!"

Now Uncle Bob couldn't control himself anymore. He laughed out loud, but then quickly shut up. Aunt Henrietta looked really weird. She stood up and raised her hands.

"Evil lurks in the corners of your lives!" she said in the creepiest voice that Butch had ever heard. Everyone in the tent looked afraid. But Uncle Bob didn't look scared at all. In fact, he was watching her very closely, like he was trying to figure her out. If Butch could have, he would have run away, but Uncle Bob was holding his hand too tight.

"Three lives hang in the balance! The two sisters are endangered by the cousin," she shrieked, waving her arms around and pointing. "There is danger for all when the blinding light comes. The innocent will suffer. All who stand in watch must be fearful when the lights are falling from the sky."

Then, she suddenly became calm again. She sat down, adjusted her turban, and turned to Mrs. Fowler as if nothing had happened.

"Now, my dear," she said in her normal freaky voice. "I do believe that young Rosalie has a message for you from your dear, departed mother."

Butch couldn't believe it. All the women just looked at her as if the whole thing had never happened. Uncle Bob was very confused. Seeing this, one of the ladies whispered to him.

"The Princess sometimes has these spells," she explained. "She doesn't even remember them. She had stopped for a while, but now they have started again. It's really very peculiar."

Butch didn't care what they were. He just wanted to get out. He tugged on Uncle Bob's hand. Uncle Bob walked out of the tent with him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked Butch.

"Beats me," said Butch. "I've seen her go nuts before, but never like that."

"I never want to see her ever again," said Prudence. "I want to see Grammy."

Uncle Bob nodded and they began to look for Grammy, Grampie, and Trelawney again. Suddenly, he stopped.

"You two have to promise that you will never tell anyone about this," he said seriously.

"No problem," said Butch. "I really don't feel like watching Dad blow his stack."

"Me too!" nodded Prudence. "I just want to see Grammy and Grampie again."

They finally found them sitting in the tent eating. Grammy asked them what they had for lunch.

"Popcorn, soda, and cotton candy," tattled Prudence, as Butch rolled his eyes.

"Bob!" scolded Grammy. "You know better than to fill the children up with sweets! What do you plan to tell Hal and Phoebe?"

"That you only live once!" answered Uncle Bob cheerfully. "By the way, Dad, can I borrow the keys to the car so that I can drop off this prize?"

"Sure, son," said Grampie.

Butch noticed that Trelawney was looking at Uncle Bob in a funny way. It was the way that she looked at people when she was about to say something weird. But now she didn't say anything. Prudence said that she wanted to stay with Grammy for the rest of the day. Uncle Bob told Butch to come with him so that they could have some guy fun. Glad that he could have Uncle Bob all to himself Butch agreed. As they were walking away, Butch heard Prudence say something to Trelawney.

"Please tell Emmeline that the daisies are lovely," she said.

"Why does she want to know?" he heard Trelawney ask her.

"I don't know," answered Prudence. "She just does."

"Don't worry, my wee fairy," said Trelawney. "She will have your message."

"Oh, great," thought Butch. "Now she's going to start all of that wee fairy and good queen junk again." It was enough that they had to deal with crazy, old Aunt Henrietta. Now Trelawney was starting up again. At least she was living with Grammy and Grampie this time.

When Butch and Uncle Bob finally got back to the family, Mom and Dad were there. Everybody was having fun and Butch felt like he could relax. He looked at Prudence and she nodded. Since everyone was happy, neither one of them wanted to think about Aunt Henrietta again.

The only one who was acting funny was Trelawney. She wouldn't leave Grammy's side for anything. In fact she wouldn't even sit next to Mom unless Grammy sat on the other side. It was almost like she was scared or something. When they got back home, before she went back Grammy's house, she looked at Dad kind of funny. She took his hands and looked into his eyes.

"It is time for the gallant knight to be most watchful of the lovely lady," she said seriously. "We are in need of the good king. He is quite near."

Then she turned to Mom.

"The lovely lady knows who the good king is,' she said. "But she does not know that she knows who he is."

"The lovely lady knows who the good king is," said Mom quietly. Then she turned to Dad and he put his arm around her. Grammy and Grampie looked at each other and Grammy put her arm around Trelawney.

Butch looked at Uncle Bob. He seemed to be very confused. Then he realized that Uncle Bob had never heard Trelawney talk about her medieval people before or the different names that she had for everyone. He and Prudence gave him hugs and thanked him for being such a great uncle at the celebration. He kissed them both and then followed the others up the street.

That night Prudence had a nightmare. Nobody heard her but Butch, so he went and woke his Dad up. Prudence was crying about Aunt Henrietta and the scary things that she said. Dad hugged her and told her that everything would be all right. After she fell asleep they went back to Butch's room and Dad made him tell him what the hell was going on. Butch wasn't very sorry that he had to break his promise to Uncle Bob.

He was surprised that Dad wasn't as angry as he normally would have been. Instead, he patted him on the head and made him promise not to tell Mom. But Butch wouldn't have told Mom for a million dollars. He knew that the baby was coming soon and that nobody wanted her to worry. And he was glad that he told Dad. He figured that if Dad knew then he would take care of it. He didn't know how he knew. He just knew it.

**The Day After**

Prudence woke up the day after the Fourth of July feeling really bad. She knew that this was how Trelawney felt when she woke up after she had her scary nightmares. She hoped that she didn't have to see Uncle Bob again. He might be rich, but he was very stupid. He just should have believed them when they told him to stay away from Aunt Henrietta. Prudence was careful to hide her feelings from Mommy. Before Amy's Mommy picked her up to go to Brownies, Daddy asked her very quietly if she felt okay and did she want to stay at home.

Prudence nodded that she was okay, but shook her head that no, she didn't want to stay at home. She wanted to go to Brownies so that she could go to Fireflies' Fancy and forget about the celebration. And she wanted to see Rachel. She needed to see Rachel. She knew that Rachel would listen to her and not get mad or anything. There wasn't anyone at home that she could tell who wouldn't get mad or upset.

When Amy's Mommy dropped them off at camp, she didn't even try to stay with Amy. The only person that she wanted to see was Rachel. She ran up to her and gave her a really tight hug. Rachel hugged her back and she felt so relieved that she thought that she was going to cry. She felt Rachel smooth down her hair.

"What's the matter, little firefly?" she asked. "You look sad today."

Prudence couldn't speak because then she knew that she would cry, so she just looked up and Rachel and nodded. Rachel looked back at her with kind eyes and said in a comforting voice, "Don't worry, little bug. We'll talk later."

But Prudence just hugged her again and she could feel Rachel hug her tighter. Then she took her hand and they walked over to the friendship circle. Slowly everyone else came in and sat down. Some of the girls looked very tired.

"Well, my sleepy fireflies," said Rachel. "It looks like some of you were up late last night. How many of you went to the fireworks at the big celebration yesterday?"

Every hand went up, even Prudence's. The next thing she knew, all the other girls were talking at once about all the fun things they did.

"If you can hear the sound of my voice, clap once!" said Rachel.

A few girls stopped talking and clapped.

"If you can hear the sound of my voice, clap twice!"

Now almost everybody clapped twice.

"If you can hear the sound of my voice, clap _three _times!"

Everybody clapped three times and giggled. Rachel smiled her cheerful smile.

"Good girls!" she said approvingly. "Now that you've proven to me that you're awake, we'll go around the circle and each girl can tell one thing she did."

As the girls went around the circle, Prudence tried hard to think of something that she did that was fun, but all that she could think about was Aunt Henrietta. She didn't want to say anything, but when it was her turn, she just said that she went on rides. Rachel gave her a funny look because usually she had a lot more to say, but Prudence was just trying to forget yesterday.

After friendship circle, they had arts and crafts, but when they got to the crafts cabin, Rachel asked the teacher if she could take Prudence for a walk. The crafts teacher, who was another big girl, looked at Prudence and said yes. So Rachel took Prudence's hand and they went for a walk down to the lake. It was early, so none of the groups were swimming yet. Rachel found them a place to sit down and then she asked Prudence what was wrong.

Prudence could feel the tears starting to come. They were big, hot tears. She knew that only babies cried, but she felt like crying anyway. Besides, Hal and Butch weren't there to make fun of her. She curled her knees up to her chest and folded her arms across them. She put her head down in her arms and cried. She felt Rachel put her arm around her and she just let her cry. Finally, she spoke.

"There, there," she said in Mommy's comforting tone of voice. "Are you ready to talk about it now?"

Prudence looked up at her concerned face. She knew that she could tell Rachel anything, only this time she didn't think that Rachel would say that she had been there. She didn't think that anyone could understand what it was like to have an Aunt Henrietta. But at least she knew that Rachel would try.

"I didn't have such a good day yesterday," she admitted. "At first it was fun because Uncle Bob let us ride all the rides, and then he bought us lots of junk food for lunch, and then we played games and he won me a huge Teddy bear."

Rachel smiled a little and asked, "What part of the day was not good?"

"We went to look for Grammy and Grampie and Trelawney in the booths because they wanted to look at all the arts and crafts and stuff. But we couldn't find them. Instead we found Aunt Henrietta."

Rachel looked puzzled.

"Her other name is Princess Lotus Flower," she explained. "But Uncle Bob didn't know that. So when me and Butch told him, he thought that it would be funny to go see her. We tried to tell him that it would make Mommy really upset and Daddy really, really mad, but he didn't listen. He thought it was a big joke."

"But it wasn't?"

"No," said Prudence shaking her head. "It was the scariest thing that I ever saw. Aunt Henrietta went into a trance and starting saying all these really creepy things. Me and Butch were scared so finally Uncle Bob took us out. Then he made us promise not to tell Daddy or Mommy or Grammy or Grampie. So we did. But last night I broke my promise."

"How did you do that?" asked Rachel in her understanding voice.

"Well," said Prudence. "I had a really, really scary nightmare and woke up Butch. He didn't know what to do because I was crying and crying. So he woke up Daddy and he came and calmed me down so that I could go to sleep. We both promised not to tell Mommy."

"Why did he tell you to promise that?" asked Rachel even more kindly.

"Because we're all afraid that if Mommy gets too worried or scared then something bad will happen to the baby," answered Prudence. "So we try to only tell her happy things. And Aunt Henrietta was very scary."

Rachel didn't answer her right away. She had a thinking face on. Prudence waited patiently. She knew that Rachel couldn't think of anything to say. It was obvious that she had never been there. At last she began to talk.

"I'm glad you told me," she said. "I've heard of Princess Lotus Flower from other people and it sounds like she's crazy. What did she say that was so scary?"

"It's hard to remember today because I have been trying real hard to forget," said Prudence. "She talked about bright lights and danger and people waiting. And she talked about three lives. Oh, and there were two sisters and a cousin. But it wasn't what she said, it was how she said it."

"How did she say it?"

"She used a real spooky voice," said Prudence. "And she looked weirder than usual. And there were all these ladies who listened to her and were whispering. They think that she is real."

"Do you think that she's real?" asked Rachel.

Prudence thought about it for a minute. Until yesterday, she had thought that she was just a big joke. Mommy and all of her relatives laughed at her. But the last time she had seen her was when Uncle Charlie visited. And that time, she upset Mommy a lot. And Daddy was really upset last night when he heard about it, even though he was mad.

"I think that sometimes she's faking it," said Prudence slowly. "But yesterday it felt like it was real. Uncle Bob thought that it was a joke, but then she was just so creepy that even he was worried. And he didn't want us to tell on him. I hope that he doesn't get mad at me and Butch."

"I'm really glad that you trusted me enough to tell me," said Rachel kindly.

"You won't tell anybody, will you?" Suddenly Prudence was nervous.

Rachel seemed to think for a minute.

"I would like to tell one person," she said. "Would you let me tell Topher? It's a secret, but before your brother Hal left for Cal Tech, Topher promised him that he would look out for your Mommy and Trelawney. And he especially promised to take care of them if Princess Lotus Flower started to upset them again."

Prudence thought for a minute. Sometimes Trelawney called Topher her gallant knight. If she trusted him enough to call him that then she thought that she could trust him too. The only other person that Trelawney had ever called her gallant knight was Daddy when he saved her from the unicorn.

"Yes," answered Prudence. "I think that would be okay. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," said Rachel.

"When Mommy's cousin Emmeline came at Christmas, before she left she asked me to let her know if anything not good was happening. She told me to tell Trelawney a secret message and then she would come back, even though Uncle David told her not to. Yesterday, after we saw Aunt Henrietta, I gave Trelawney the secret message because I think that she should come back."

"You must be very worried," said Rachel.

Prudence nodded.

"Well," she said. "I can't tell you not to worry, but I think that if you have Topher and your Cousin Emmeline to take care of you, and your Daddy, then you should be safe."

"What about Mommy?" Prudence asked. "What if something bad happens to the baby because she is so worried?"

"I don't think that will happen," she answered. "I think that your Daddy and your grandparents will take good care of her."

"I guess you're right," said Prudence, but she wasn't sure.

For the rest of the day, she stayed close by Rachel. She felt tired and didn't really want to play. When Daddy came to pick her up, she was very quiet. When they got home, he went into his study to do work. So she went to find Mommy.

Mommy was tired too. She was lying in bed reading. Prudence curled up next to her. As she nestled closer, she could feel Mommy smoothing down her hair.

"Are you feeling alright, sweetheart?" she asked softly.

"I'm okay," she said. "I think that I rode too many rides and ate too much junk food yesterday."

"That's okay, what would a celebration like that be if you didn't overindulge a little?" said Mommy in her comforting voice. "Why don't you just stay here with me and take a little nap."

So Prudence cuddled up even closer to Mommy and she felt her put her arm around her. She thought of Daddy working downstairs in his study. She remembered that Cousin Emmeline would be coming soon. And she knew that Rachel would tell Topher. She decided that everything would be all right.

**A Father's Care**

After he brought Prudence home from her day camp, Professor Everett felt restless. Unable to concentrate on his work, after about fifteen minutes, he went upstairs to his bedroom to talk with his wife. The scene that greeted him there was very sweet.

His young wife, seven and a half months pregnant, was sleeping peacefully with his daughter Prudence snuggled up against her. Phoebe was cradling her with one arm and her book had fallen from her other hand. It was easy to imagine the preceding scene. No one would ever guess that they were stepmother and daughter.

He remembered their recent conversation with Tom and Bernice. For once, Bernice wasn't antagonistic. She simply pointed out that Prudence had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle and didn't feel that she could speak up because of what his son Hal and Mother had told her. She knew that they had meant no harm, but Prudence had taken their words a little too seriously about not demanding all of Phoebe's attention.

They all could see the tears welling up in Phoebe's eyes. Anyone who had seen her and Prudence together knew that a very close mother-daughter relationship had evolved between them even before they were married. Bernice immediately recognized this and sat beside her and put her arm around her. Hal marveled at the difference in the way in which _that _relationship that had recently evolved.

"Don't take it so hard, dear," she said soothingly. "This is your first child and Prudence has always been the youngest. I know that you are absorbed with this first experience of a new life growing within you. And it was other family members who told her to back off. We only told you because we know how much you love her and would wantto know. We're not scolding."

After they left, Phoebe had spoken to Prudence privately before tucking her in. Things had changed the very next day. But now he wasn't exactly sure of how to handle this new situation with Prudence. He was furious that Bob hadn't listened to Butch and Prudence when they told him to stay away from Aunt Henrietta, but knowing Bob, he understood how it had played out.

Bob's only previous experience with her had been on Christmas Day when she had clearly been playacting. Emmeline had never seen Aunt Henrietta in action recently and he was sure that she had entertained both Bob and Ben with stories of her idiosyncrasies over the years. And Prudence was well known for her exaggerations, while Butch was always trying to play the tough guy. Fortunately, he was able to work through these rationalizations in his mind before confronting Bob with his foolishness.

Earlier this morning, he and Phoebe had gone up to Mother's. Mother and Phoebe went upstairs to the sewing room, while he sat down with Dad and Bob. Calmly he told Bob about Prudence's nightmare and what Butch had told him. Dad looked very annoyed, but kept his mouth shut while Bob looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Bob, I know that you thought it was a big joke," said Hal. "But it was very disturbing for Prudence. However, what's done is done. Now, it's more important that we know exactly what she said. Both Sylvia and Uncle Charlie, not to mention Uncle David, are concerned about what she says when she gets in these states."

"Come to think of it," added Dad. "It's been over a month since she's said anything, at least that we've heard about. Your mother seemed to have shut her down, and Charlie didn't waste any words with her either."

"I really do apologize for taking the kids in there," replied Bob. "I was not expecting the show that we got, and she even managed to creep me out. If I had any idea that she was capable of such performance that I certainly would not have brought the kids in."

"_Was _it a performance?" asked Dad.

"Well, if I didn't know better, I would have said that, for at least part of the time, she was really in a trance," admitted Bob.

"Okay," said Dad. "Tell us exactly what she said, or as close to it as possible."

"Well," said Bob. "First she called me an unbeliever and then told me to stay away from her niece, who I took to be Emmeline, because she would come to a bad end. She then said that bad karma stalked her and her brother."

"Okay," said Hal. "All of that can be rationally explained. She hates Emmeline and the brother would be William, or Liam. Nothing in that is new. She knew that you were an unbeliever at Christmas and had picked up on your 'impure' thoughts about Emmeline then."

"She wasn't in her 'trance' then," replied Bob. "So that makes sense."

"What did she say when she was in the trance?" asked Dad.

"Three lives hang in the balance. Two sisters are threatened by the cousin," answered Bob. "There is danger when the blinding light comes. The innocent will suffer. Beware to all who stand and watch as the bright lights fall from the sky."

"Okay," said Dad. "We've heard the first two before. But the third one is new."

Hal was silent. He was remembering the betting pool in the Math Department. His choice for Maisie's birth date was August 13. That was the date of the height of the Perseids meteor showers and if Maisie was indeed born on that day, then many "bright lights" would be falling from the sky at a rate of about one per minute, and there would be many standing in wait.

Despite the fact that he thought that Aunt Henrietta was a crackpot from the word go, this was a little too close to a possible event to be a mere coincidence. Despite his own annoyance with Bob, he was glad that they now knew of this particular "prediction."

"Bob," he asked. "What made you and the children think that the last three premonitions were directed at us? It seems that they were disconnected from the first two."

Bob thought for a minute.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "Aside from the fact that the kids were both terrified. In fact, she did _not _specifically connect them to the family. She didn't mention any names or places. I have to admit that I was actually pretty fascinated by the whole thing.

"From my perspective the weirdest part was that she suddenly snapped out of it and went back to whatever her previous line of thinking was as if nothing had happened. One of the other ladies referred to it as a 'spell.' she said that she had stopped having them for a while but now they were back."

Hal looked at his father. Dad nodded.

"The same thing happened the last time she was here," Dad explained. "One minute she was arguing with Charlie and the next she was going off on the blinding light tangent. Then out of the blue, she suddenly went right back to the argument, as if she hadn't gotten off topic or even was aware that she had done so."

Bob thought for a minute.

"Dad," he said. "I know that you didn't want me to put a private detective on Emmeline, but what about Aunt Henrietta? There is something very unsavory about her, aside from the fact that she is a master charlatan. I have to admit that I was just curious about the girl, mostly because she was so evasive. My sense of the auntie is that she could be dangerous."

Dad was quiet for a long time. Hal knew that he was struggling. As if to help him make up his mind, Bob spoke again.

"In the case of Emmeline, I actually had someone tailing her, you know, trying to follow her, which wasn't easy since she moved around a lot," added Bob. "This time the detective wouldn't be following Aunt Henrietta, he would be looking into her background. That's a big difference."

"Yes, it is," admitted Dad. "But now you have me curious. Where was Emmeline moving around?"

Bob grinned.

"I knew that your curiosity would get the better of you someday," he said. "But it was nothing too exciting. She was up in Scandinavia. But my man didn't get to the point where he could figure out what she was doing there."

"Well," said Hal. "I know that Phoebe worked up in Lapland for a while as a nanny, but I think that we can be pretty sure that Emmeline was not doing that."

"Yes," agreed his father. "Emmeline is definitely not the nurturing type. But to get back to your original question, I don't think that there would be any harm in digging around the old girl's background. We can't give you much help other than the fact that her place of origin is the village in England and she owns a circus."

Bob shrugged.

"That's more than I had on Emmeline," he replied. "There must be business records on the circus and some personal financial information. Of course most of the money earned for the hocus-pocus is no doubt handled under the table. If she's renting the house in town, then she would have had to provide references."

"Well," said Dad. "As long as the investigation stays under the table, it's okay by me."

"Good," said Bob. "I really am sorry that I stirred things up with Butch and Prudence. If she ever becomes a real threat to Phoebe or Trelawney, let me know and I'll hire a couple of private security guards to work undercover. You realize that I do love you all as my family and will do anything that I can to protect you."

"Thanks, Bob," said Dad. "I hope that it doesn't come to that, but I'll keep it in mind."

Now, as Hal reviewed the conversation in his own mind, he was almost grateful that Bob had pulled the stunt. They knew that Aunt Henrietta was up to her old tricks again. Bob would try to figure out what her background was. He knew it was useless to ask Phoebe and it would only upset her if he did.

The offer of the undercover security guards didn't bother him at all. The idea of Maisie's birth being a time of danger for them all frightened him, even if the source of information was about as loony as they come. However, he doubted that Phoebe, or anyone else for that matter, would be able to connect those particular dots, even if that premonition came out.

Phoebe had spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon with Mother, while they went out for a round of golf. It was hot on the course, but it felt good to get the physical exercise. It helped to release some of the nervous tension that had been building since last night. Prudence was subdued when he picked her up and had looked tired. No wonder she had conked out.

Things were now counting down to five weeks until Maisie was due to make her earliest appearance. In a week or so they would be starting the childbirth classes. He wasn't sure how he felt about it now that he knew about the premonition. But then he remembered what Trelawney had said last night about his extra vigilance. It occurred to him that she might have been talking about him being present at the birth of his child. He was already almost constantly in his wife's company.

He had not had the chance to ask Phoebe who the good king was. Mother had discussed it with him and the fact that Phoebe claimed to know who he was. She had no idea of who he was either. He couldn't even imagine who he could be. It certainly wasn't Bob, even though he was now taking an active role in their protection. He knew that Trelawney knew, but as usual, she wasn't saying.

Since he had realized that she was not, nor had ever been the cause of their troubles, he had begun to feel more tenderly about her again. It was now clear that their troubles had begun and would most likely end with Aunt Henrietta. The girl was kind and gentle, almost too good for this world. He had noticed that despite being a preteen, she had not yet begun to develop the normal sophistication that a girl, say like Francine, would. She was still simple and childlike.

But he now was also coming to realize why Sylvia had told him that eventually she would return to his household. Phoebe's promise to care for her was doubtless for the rest of her life if necessary, not just until she reached one of those magic ages of either eighteen or twenty-one. Oddly, he had even begun to agree with Sylvia that the child would be a blessing in his home.

Her first love and devotion was always to family. She was also deeply faithful to God. Her joy in the simple pleasures of life, her sewing, her music, and her books was highly unusual for a young girl these days. In many ways, she almost seemed to be a throw back to the nineteenth century. And it was these very genuine qualities that made her a rare bird in their world. She deserved to be cherished as such. Indeed, he was a fortunate man to have her as his sister-in-law.

She would no doubt be a comfort to his wife and bring joy to his home. Her relationships with his older children had settled into a very deep caring for one another. He suspected that she would be a kind and loving aunt to his younger children. He knew that there were those who questioned what would become of the quaint little girl when she grew up. But he knew. He would care for her and she would have a safe place in his home for as long as she needed him.

_To be continued . . ._


	3. Chapter 3

**The Watchful One**

When Rachel told Topher that Prudence had "paid a visit" to Princess Lotus Flower courtesy of her Uncle Bob, he was less interested in the little girl's fears and in more supposed "message from the great beyond." It seemed to be pretty much the same thing that the old bat had babbled to Mrs. Sullivan. And like Mrs. Sullivan, Prudence had thought that part of it was different from her normal "predictions."

Hal hadn't mentioned that the old broad made two different kinds of predictions, the fake kind and the kind that "seemed" to be real. But that could have been because he hadn't known about them before he left. He might have put it down to Prudence being a little kid who didn't know better, but Mrs. Sullivan had said almost the exact same thing. Neither of them was the type of person who would lie. And what they both had said was too similar to be coincidence.

Rachel was worried because Prudence was so upset by the whole incident that it was giving her nightmares. Even Topher knew how that could become a big problem. If Mrs. Everett was going to find out about the weird predictions, that was the easiest way that it could happen. But Professor Everett knew about the nightmares, so he figured that he would do his best to keep them from his wife. His own Mom had slept pretty soundly whenever she had been pregnant. His Dad used to joke that a freight train could go through the bedroom and she would sleep through it.

He wasn't sure of what to do next. It was no use trying to go to Hal for more information. He was pretty sure that no one in the family had told him anything new since he had left town. However, he was worried that something bad could happen if the Princess wasn't stopped. The problem was that he didn't even know what kind of bad _might _happen, or for that matter what _could_ happen.

Finally, Topher decided to do what he usually did when he had a problem that he couldn't figure out. He went to see Pastor Jason. He had known Pastor Jason since he was a kid. He remembered going to church services and Sunday school and Pastor Jason always being there with a cheerful smile. Everybody at church loved Pastor Jason. No matter when you needed him, he always had time for you. In fact, you kind of got the feeling that he knew that you needed him and he was expecting you before you even called.

When Topher had started middle school, he was bothered by the way that all of his friends had changed. It was like all of the sudden they were too cool for the other kids. Not only that, but they would make fun of them. That had made Topher angry and confused. If they didn't like the other kids, then why didn't they just ignore them? Why did they have to pick on them? And what made them think that they were so cool?

So Topher had decided to talk it over with Pastor Jason. He explained to him that the kids who made fun of other kids were really very insecure themselves. Truly cool kids didn't need to make fun of other kids in order to feel good about themselves. They were happy with who they already were.

Topher was happy with the way that he was, so he just refused to be mean. Yeah, he was probably the smartest kid in school, but it didn't make him any smarter if he picked on the dumber kids. And yeah, he was a great drummer, but he wouldn't be any better if he made fun of kids who didn't play musical instruments. And the girls all thought that he was good-looking, but his looks wouldn't be changed if he laughed at the kids with braces or glasses or bad skin.

Pastor Jason invited him to join the Youth Group at church and that was where he met some _really _cool kids. They liked themselves the way they were, even if they weren't perfect. And they were never mean to other kids. They read the Bible together and learned about how Jesus lived. Since Jesus always sought out the outsiders and the neglected in his society, and took care of them, they tried to do the same thing.

But they didn't just do it at school. They tried to help out other folks in town who needed help. They helped the older folks keep up with repairs on their houses. They collected food for the food bank. At Christmas time they collected toys for the kids whose parents couldn't afford them. They visited nursing homes to keep the residents company. Pastor Jason called it reaching out to give instead of reaching out to get.

Topher thought that Youth Group was the best place to be. All the kids there felt good about themselves because they were _nice _to other people, not _mean _to them. He thought that if some of the kids in school could do that, then they might figure out that it felt better inside to be nice than mean. But then again, there was one very good reason why they might not realize this. They all thought that they were too cool to go to church.

So Topher called up Pastor Jason and went to see him one day after work.

"You know," said Pastor Jason, wrinkling his nose. "You could have taken some time to shower before you came in."

"I don't think that Jesus only ministered to the clean people in town," answered Topher with a smile.

Pastor Jason rolled his eyes and asked, "So what is so important that you had to come and see me in your present, unwashed state?"

Topher got serious real fast. He explained everything that he had heard from Mrs. Sullivan and Rachel. Pastor Jason listened very closely, as if he didn't want to miss anything. Topher got the feeling that Pastor Jason knew more about Hal's family than he did. But of course he didn't say anything. No one could ever beat Pastor Jason for keeping a secret.

"So, I really want to keep my promise to Hal," he finished up. "But now I'm pretty much stuck. I feel like I know all this stuff but I don't know what to do with it. I mean, it feels like some sort of a big puzzle or something. Only none of the pieces fit together, at all."

"Topher," said Pastor Jason seriously. "What is your sense about Princess Lotus Flower? When you hear these stories about her really weird predictions, how do they make you feel?"

Topher thought for a minute.

"What is your gut instinct?" Pastor Jason encouraged. "Don't think about it, feel it."

"I think that she's dangerous," he said immediately.

Now Pastor Jason looked concerned. Without him saying anything, Topher realized that he agreed with him. It was not a very comfortable thought. He had always admired Pastor Jason because he was not only _good. _He was very sensible. The idea that he was even considering that the Princess was dangerous was very worrying to him. Finally, after a long moment, he spoke.

"What makes you think that she is dangerous?" Pastor Jason asked.

"Well," said Topher. "I know that what she is saying is pretty crazy. I mean, if you take the words out of context, it sounds like the end of the world is coming or something. I guess that I think that that's dangerous because people might do something stupid if they take it the wrong way."

"What do you mean, Topher?" he asked curiously.

"Well," he said. "What she says _is _kind of scary, if you take it out of context. And when people get scared they do stupid stuff. And Prudence is afraid that if Mrs. Everett hears about this junk, then she might worry and it would hurt the baby. Pastor Jason, could worrying really hurt the baby?"

"That's hard to say," he replied. "I suppose that if she worried enough, she could go into labor early. But she is far enough along that the baby would be small, but probably wouldn't die. However that also does not mean that there could not be health problems. Needless to say, it's best for Mrs. Everett and the baby if she can stay calm and happy for the next five or six weeks."

"That's what I thought," said Topher.

"What else did you think?" he asked.

"I thought that even though I know all this stuff, there's really nothing that I can do about it."

"That, young man," said Pastor Jason sternly. "Is very true. There is nothing that anyone can do at the moment. Remember what you just said about people doing stupid stuff when they get scared. The same thing goes for overreacting."

"I know that you're right," he admitted. "But it's so frustrating."

"Topher," said Pastor Jason changing his tone. "I know that more than anything else, you loath injustice and you always want to stand up for people who seem to be in trouble. But in this case, the Princess, as you call her, is not telling us the full story. That's part of the reason why it sounds so crazy. Without knowing that, you could jump to conclusions and do something that would have serious consequences."

Topher was silent, and then something occurred to him.

"Pastor, do you think that there really are evil forces in the world?"

Pastor Jason looked surprised by his question. "What makes you suggest that?"

"Well," he said, thinking out loud. "For the sake of argument, let's suppose that there are evil forces in the universe. Do you think that they could be using the Princess to scare people into doing something stupid or dangerous?"

"Explain what you mean," replied Pastor Jason seriously.

"Well, a lot of the predictions seem to be about Trelawney, or at least they used to," he said. "But Trelawney is a really good person. And so is Mrs. Everett. They always seem to be doing good things for other people. I mean, I know that there are good forces in the world and that they use people to do good things. Do you think that the same could be true of evil forces."

Pastor Jason looked down at hands like he was thinking real hard about that. Topher got the feeling that he agreed with him, but was surprised that he had figured it out by himself. At last, he looked up at him. It was almost as if he was looking at him for the first time.

"Topher," he said gently. "There are most certainly good forces in the world and they do act through people to help those in need. I believe that at this moment God is calling you to be one of those good forces and it is clear that you have answered His call. It is important for you to remember that accepting His call is almost never easy. As to your hypothesis about evil forces, this is also true. And they do seek to hinder those who are good or acting in good ways for other people."

Topher considered his words. He turned them over in his mind slowly and carefully. He had never avoided doing anything that was difficult before, especially if it was something good. He looked into Pastor Jason's eyes. He knew that he was a truly good man, through and through. He had never steered him wrong before.

"How can I help?" he asked. "Even if it's hard, I want to do my best to keep my promise to my friend. And I want to protect Trelawney and Mrs. Everett."

"Be watchful," he answered. "Do not act unless you are certain. The Princess truly loves Mrs. Everett, but she is so foolish that she doesn't even realize that what she is saying is potentially harmful to her and her child. She also does not like Trelawney. However, she does not seem to realize that she cannot hurt one niece without hurting the other."

"Why doesn't she like Trelawney?" asked Topher.

"I cannot be sure," he replied. "I know that she has never liked the girl. It may be that she is too good and she makes her feel uncomfortable. And Trelawney never lies. I believe that that is why _she _finds Princess Lotus Flower most offensive. She is keeping quiet for now, but there is no doubt that the Princess fears that she will expose her for who she really is."

"But that's not the same thing as the evil forces working through her to get at the good," he commented.

Pastor Jason looked at him sharply.

"It would be best, young man," he said. "If you kept those thoughts to yourself. They are at the core of the Princess's two levels of trance. There could be just as much danger for you in knowing this, as there is for Trelawney."

"But I'm stronger than she is, or Mrs. Everett for that matter," he responded.

"This is quite true," he said. "If evil forces are indeed working through her, then chances are that the sisters will not be able to adequately defend themselves. Trelawney is too young and innocent, while Mrs. Everett is almost completely focused on her unborn child. It may be that the evil forces have sensed their weakness and might choose this time to strike. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"If you need to act, there will be no doubt in your mind whatsoever. Keep your mind open to God's message. If He needs you, He will call."

Topher nodded. "Yes, sir."

Pastor Jason stood up. He placed his hands on Topher's head to bless him. Topher could feel the strength of his goodness flowing through him. He was no longer confused or frustrated. He might not know what he was supposed to do yet. But he was ready.

**The Visitor**

Catherine Everett wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that an aura of peace had descended over her daughter-in-law Phoebe. Since the excitement of the Fourth of July, she had been happily going about her business, tending to the children, her husband, and her home. She was mercifully unaware of the prognostications that her aunt had made on that day. But the flip side of that was that her ignorance made her more vulnerable.

She spent almost all of her time with Hal. He was very protective of her and she basked in his attention. She visited them at the house during the day and spent time with her sister when they were both free. She didn't talk much herself, but enjoyed listening to the rest of the family talking about their days. Very often, she just worked at her knitting or sewing with a soft, "Mona Lisa like" smile on her face. When Catherine asked her about it, she seemed to glow.

"I am busy nurturing this little one close to my heart," she said sweetly. "This is as close as we will be for the rest of our lives. I want to enjoy every minute that I have with her."

Catherine was happy for her. She knew this feeling of serenity during these last weeks of pregnancy well. But she was also concerned. At any moment, this sense of joy and contentment might be shattered by her foolish aunt. Because Phoebe never seemed to go far from home these days, it was easy to conceal Aunt Henrietta's prophecies of doom and gloom. Her son was almost always at her side, or at least in the house working. On those occasions when he could not be there, Phoebe was in her own care.

Only Trelawney seemed truly wary and almost fearful. But she was very careful to cover her feelings when she was with her sister under the kind of light chatter that reminded her of a butterfly. She would flit from topic to topic, making her laugh at her perceptive, little observations. But each night when Catherine put her to bed, she asked that she stay until she fell asleep. And she insisted that the light stay on.

She and Prudence seemed to have some secret between them, but there was no telling what it was. She had only caught them whispering together twice, but both times they were very circumspect when answering her questions. Finally, she gave up. Whatever their secret was, it was one of their "girl things." She thought that it was best to let them be. Since that relationship had mended itself, she decided that she would allow them the chance for a little sisterly bonding, even if it were at the expense of her own curiosity.

Then, one day out of nowhere, Emmeline showed up. Phoebe and Trelawney were both thrilled. Phoebe was just at the one-month mark for when the baby would be born. Since they had not seen their cousin since Christmas, both girls had a lot of catching up to do with her.

Catherine knew that Emmeline was to be the godmother of the baby and therefore she had every right to make a visit. David must have decided that since most of the family fully accepted and supported the marriage, not to mention Trelawney's new home that she could "pop in" without ruffling any more feathers.

To make things easier on Phoebe and because they had more room, it was decided that Emmeline would stay at their house. Trelawney was very pleased. She missed the family who had surrounded her since birth and Emmeline was her favorite relative, excepting, of course, her sister. Because Emmeline had insured that the two girls would not be separated, there was a special trust between them. However, it didn't take long for Catherine to discover the reason why she was really there.

One day, while they were in the house alone together, Emmeline approached her with a serious expression on her face.

"Catherine," she said simply. "What is all of this rot that is going on with Auntie?"

Catherine then realized that someone had told her about Aunt Henrietta's premonitions and predictions. She suspected now that this could be what had prompted the visit at this time.

"It was Prudence," answered Emmeline, as if she had just asked the question out loud. "Before I left at Christmas, I told her to have Trelawney contact me with a message if she ever thought that I was needed. I didn't want her to give me the information any way except face to face. But I am afraid that what she has told me is a muddle."

"Yes," replied Catherine. "I can imagine that it would be. But where does her story start?"

"She told me that your son Bob took her and Butch to see Auntie at a big celebration a week or so ago," explained Emmeline. "She said that it was very scary because I was going to come to a bad end, as was Liam. She then went on about bright lights, lives in the balance, and other such nonsense. Now some of this has already been told to Dad and Sylvia, and if I am not mistaken, Uncle Charlie. But I can make no sense of it."

"Neither can we," sighed Catherine. "The most specific premonitions relate to you and your brother and the bad karma that follows you both. But then there is one about two sisters and a cousin harming them. She has been talking about three lives hanging in the balance for some time now. Then there is the one about the coming of the blinding light and the innocent suffering."

"Is that all?"

"The most recent one that we know about is that there is danger to all who stand and wait as the bright lights fall from the sky," finished Catherine.

Emmeline looked very thoughtful. Finally she spoke.

"This is the kind of thing that usually gets her into trouble," she commented. "These nonspecific predictions have unintended consequences. Unfortunately, while for the most part they are too vague to be of much use, there is often a grain of truth in them. Sorting them out is the most difficult part."

"Do her prophecies about you concern you?" asked Catherine curiously.

"Hardly," said Emmeline with a smile. "If you've been listening to her as long as I have, you would know that bad karma has been following me since birth. It's the same with Liam. I'm willing to bet that she has also said that Liam's bad temper will bring him to a disastrous end."

"Why, yes," said Catherine, a little surprised. "And we have all gotten the impression that she does not approve of the fact that he is standing guard over Cholmondeley."

"I am sure that she does not," agreed Emmeline. "For the most part, the entire family would like to see Liam drop his mission before he kills the bastard. Nobody thinks that the damnation of his own soul is worth that kind of revenge on the likes of Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh. And that could destroy Trelawney. But Auntie doesn't give a rat's turd about Liam's soul. And she cares even less about the little one's safety. However, she would never directly harm her."

"I suppose that that would be enough to put her on the outs even with your grandfather?" asked Catherine.

"Quite definitely yes," replied Emmeline. "Grandfather would not survive another assault on the child. Auntie's in a bit of a pickle with this one, caught between love and hate, as she is, you might say. She's got no call to hate the little one though, at least not one that any of us has been able to figure out."

"On the subject of Trelawney," said Catherine. "She has now told us to be on the lookout for the good king."

"Well, we all knew that he was bound to pop up sooner or later, didn't we?" she replied in amusement.

"But she won't tell us who he is," continued Catherine. "And Phoebe's not saying even though she seems to know."

"I know that you are not going to like this answer," said Emmeline. "But you'll know when you need to know. It's a good thing that Phoebe knows who he is. She'll call on him if she needs him. If the girls aren't telling you, then it means that it's better that his identity is concealed for now."

Catherine was silent. She wished that everything were simpler. She loved Phoebe and Trelawney dearly, but there seemed to be no end to their entanglements with the universal consciousness. The fact remained that Phoebe was carrying her grandchild and they both seemed to be in danger. Emmeline was now looking at her oddly.

"Now is not the time to have any doubts," she said. "Both of my cousins have placed their absolute trust in you to keep them safe from Aunt Henrietta. You are the good queen and the one best positioned to protect them from the evil witch. You have already proven that you can stand up to her. If the girls have any sense of security right now, it is due to this fact."

"But what about Hal and Rob?" Catherine asked.

"Their ability to protect her is limited by the fact that they are men," she explained. "No doubt there are other aspects of the cosmos from which they protect her, but Aunt Henrietta and her lies and half-truths are not among them."

"Now that you know why Prudence called you here," asked Catherine. "How long will you stay?"

"As long as I am needed," she answered simply. "When Trelawney was born, Auntie Meg made me promise to help Phoebe care for her if anything bad should befall her and my uncle. To use Trelawney's own words, Phoebe is now 'otherwise concerned.' That is right and natural.

"You have taken her into your home and heart, but if you were not here then it would have fallen to me to keep the child safe and secure. But I will not shirk my duty now, or abdicate it to you. If I have been brought back into the drama, it is no accident of fate. I am needed to fulfill some purpose here, probably one related to my little cousin."

"You seem to have a real soft spot for her," commented Catherine. "And you don't normally like children, do you?"

"No," she admitted. "But when has Trelawney ever been a normal child?"

"Phoebe told me that she may emotionally always remain a child," said Catherine. "Do you agree?"

"That could very well be true," she said. "But it's too hard to tell at this point. And I haven't seen her in six months. Those such as Trelawney live in an almost perpetual state of innocence. But they are also much smarter than anyone around them gives them credit for. And I don't mean book smart. Their second sight gives them the ability to know the hearts and minds of others. The simplicity of their minds makes them very prescient. However they are also very canny. I am sure that Trelawney is very careful to use her gifts only for the good."

"Well, we did notice this spring that many good things were happening to those around her," replied Catherine. "None of them could be directly attributed to her, although a couple seemed to be Sylvia's doing."

"That would be Syl," smiled Emmeline. "She's been the do-gooder of the family for her whole life. And she never takes credit for what she does. It's kind of like Trelawney or Phoebe. If you try to give her credit, she'll look at you with those wide blue eyes as if she has no idea of what you are talking about."

"Well," said Catherine. "She is very sweet and she brought some lovely gifts for Phoebe and Trelawney from their mother."

"I'm not surprised," answered Emmeline. "A heart of gold, that one has. We are all terribly proud of her."

"Well, I'm curious," said Catherine. "You have one more brother, don't you?"

"Yes, of course," said Emmeline. "That would be our Jimmy. He was named after grandfather. Quite a love, he is as well."

"Will we ever get to meet him?" she asked.

"With a Figalilly, you never know," replied Emmeline. "They come and go, but mostly go. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he showed up for the christening. He'll want to be there to comment on the irony of an agnostic being the godmother. He likes to stir the pot a bit, so to speak."

"Is he a religious man?"

"You might say that," answered Emmeline with glint in her eye. "I'll leave you to figure that one out for yourself when you meet him."

"Well, to get back to the original topic," said Catherine. "What can we do about Aunt Henrietta?"

"I'm afraid that there's nothing you can do about her for the moment," she replied. "But you should continue to insulate Phoebe from her. She is wonderfully happy and content right now. After all the grieving that she's done for her parents, she deserves this joy in her life. They would certainly want her to be happy, and so does the family back home."

"Well, that's what we were thinking," said Catherine. "But it's nice to have you affirm our choices."

Emmeline smiled. "Of course you realize that it's not about you. It's about Phoebe and Maisie. If I thought for a minute that you were not acting prudently, then I would certainly tell you."

"I do indeed know that," replied Catherine, thinking of the number of times that she had scolded her son.

She smiled at the young woman who looked so much like Phoebe. It was good to know that they had someone who understood the family there to help guide them. And it was good to know that everything would turn out well if they followed their instincts. What they seemed to lack in specific knowledge, they were able to compensate for through their own good judgment. She hoped that Emmeline would stay until the baby was born. Phoebe might need all the support that she could get.

**The Observer**

Emmeline had been in town for a week and nothing had happened. Nor had there even been a peep out of Auntie that they knew of. She briefly wondered if perhaps Prudence hadn't pushed the panic button too quickly, but she also knew that the child would have been following her own best instincts. The incident at the celebration had terrified her, even though she hadn't understood the half of it.

She had given the message to Trelawney the very same day that she heard the premonition with her own ears. Trelawney had not been completely aware of why, but she had also known that she had needed to stay close to Catherine that day. No doubt she had had her own premonition of what might happen if she went with Bob.

She was able to dismiss out of hand all the nonsense about Liam and herself, simply because old Auntie had been saying it for years. She did not completely believe that the bit about the blinding light was directly related to the family, nor the innocent suffering for that matter. One thing about the old girl was that she could never keep her stories straight. No doubt she could have muddled two completely different predictions without even knowing it.

She suspected that the two sisters endangered by the cousin could be about Phoebe, Trelawney, and herself. But that too might be a bit of obfuscation expressing her dislike for her once again, in order to frighten her away. Someone out there definitely wanted her to stay away, which of course made her all the more eager to remain. That premonition seemed to have been made both in and out of the full-blown trance.

The three lives in the balance were also probably more smoke and mirrors and might even fall into the same category as the blinding light. She thought that it was a pity that no one had been present at this most recent performance that could read auras. Both Trelawney and Sylvia had told her that while her normal aura during her séances was the muddy, grey color of deception. The aura of the deep trance was a rather foul, mustard yellow. Even Uncle Charlie had confirmed this. That meant that there was a great disturbance, even anger somewhere in the cosmos. Aunt Henrietta's powers were certainly not that great. But even she could not discern its origin.

It seemed to her that Aunt Henrietta was the bearer of the evil portents, but not the instigator. And much as she liked to cause mischief in the temporal realm, she would never consciously bring any harm to Phoebe or her child. However, Emmeline was beginning to think that the actual target of the cosmic disturbance, for whatever unknown reason, was the unborn child, Maisie.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind within the Figalilly family, that Maisie was a very special fated child. Like Trelawney, she would be purely good. Unlike Trelawney, she would not be fey. One such as Trelawney could only be born in the village, where adequate protection was certain. It was obvious that Maisie had always been destined to be born outside the village. Her mixed blood was proof of this. She was clearly a threat to someone out there, which might explain her rather odd parentage, especially for a child of light.

It occurred to her that someone on the other side might have been trying to disguise her birth because of her purpose in the conflict of good and evil. In addition to being exceptionally good, she would also be exceptionally strong. The fact that she could already recognize various family members was proof of this, as well as her ability to communicate with Trelawney.

This attempt to protect her in this manner had clearly failed. However, foreknowledge of the potential cosmic disturbances surrounding her birth would certainly allow her time to put various protections in place. She had discerned from the Professor's mind that based on her ramblings, he believed that the birth date could be August 13, the date that represented the height of the Perseids meteor shower. Apparently, no one else had picked up on this significant little tidbit of information, except, perhaps, for Trelawney.

The directional origin of the meteors was the constellation, Perseus, who was the hero who rescued Andromeda from the sea serpent. Her father Cepheus had been helpless and her mother Cassiopeia had been the instigator of the whole mess by challenging the beauty of the Nereids, the daughters of Poseidon. How important the symbolism of the myth was to the present situation was debatable, however if Maisie was the fair maiden, somewhere out there a gallant knight was waiting to swoop down and save her.

As Occam's razor neatly suggested, the simplest explanation was usually the correct one. Therefore, Emmeline decided that for the moment, she would not allow herself to be distracted away from the core elements of the story. Reading too much complexity into the myth as an allegory for present day people and events would be a mistake. These details were just the kind of blind alleys and detours that some cosmic mischief-maker might use to throw them off track.

She contemplated the wisdom of the home birth. Both she and Trelawney could be present, as well as the Professor (whether he liked it or not). In fact, as Phoebe's gallant knight, he was needed. The good queen must also be there, but she had very little doubt that that would be a problem. Catherine would most certainly wish to be present for the birth of her grandchild.

The only person that needed to be there was the one that had not yet been not found, the good king. It seemed that only Phoebe knew who he was. Trelawney had assured her that she did not and that in fact only Phoebe knew. Her next step must be to discover the identity of the good king without alerting Phoebe to any possible dangers. She had a hunch, but preferred not to speak unless she were sure.

No, upon further consideration, she realized that Prudence had done well to call upon her when she did. Bob's appearance at that fortuitous time as well as his stumbling upon the séance at the precise moment, or perhaps even triggering it, could not be mere coincidence.

She suspected that there might even be other forces for good at play that she didn't even know about yet. Whatever mayhem was planned around the birth of the child, she knew in her heart that it would be defeated. And at that point, Maisie should be safe for years to come.

It was a pity that both she and Trelawney could not be raised in the village, which would certainly be the safest place for them, with the greatest number relations to safeguard them. However, for whatever reasons, their destinies had not been written in this way. Emmeline knew that as godmother, she would have a special role in protecting the child. She knew that the godfather of the child would also be critical to her safety. All of her instincts were telling her that this role should be played by the good king, whoever he was.

For the time being, she was enjoying being with her cousin at this very special time in her life. She was surrounded by a loving family who were doing their very best to keep her happy and safe. The Professor's sabbatical insured that he would have the time and space in his life to build the deeper family relationships that he had lacked when Phoebe came. The three children were all thriving in the two-parent household. Each in his or her own way was demonstrating great strength of will and character.

Trelawney's own special brand of unconditional love was a source of strength for her sister simply by her presence. Hal's parents had accepted the two orphaned girls into their family and their hearts. Even Helen's parents were becoming more tightly knit into the extended family structure.

Of those two, Tom fascinated her more. This was mostly because he understood Trelawney so well and had unselfishly offered to act as a grandfather to Phoebe's children well as his own daughter's. She had no doubt that in time Bernice would feel the same way. The fact that she was showing maternal feelings towards Phoebe was a promising sign of this.

When she considered the finely interwoven tapestry of lives that was emerging in this southern California community, she was struck by the fact that it was really Trelawney who had knitted that fabric together. She could only wonder at what would have happened if the child had remained in England and Phoebe had returned to care for her. She could not even imagine what life in the village would have been like if Cholmondeley had returned to claim Phoebe as his bride and the truth of his relationship with the child had been exposed there.

There were family relationships and interrelationships that had been torn asunder since that information had come to light, and nowhere more so than in the village where they all lived closely together. Even within her own family, marriages were being frayed as those who chose to believe the child's story and those who still accused her of lying continued to disagree. The one most absent from this drama was Cholmondeley himself. To her knowledge, no one, not even Liam, had confronted him to ask for his side of the story. However a confrontation of this sort between the two men would surely result in the death of one.

Thus, Liam continued to smolder in his anger and Cholmondeley went off scot free, seemingly blithely unaware that his nasty little secret had been discovered. She wondered how Cholmondeley felt about the fact that his former betrothed was due to give birth to another man's child in a few weeks, or if he even cared. He had never been eager to claim his bride in any case and would probably not have shown up to marry Phoebe more than a year ago without her own prodding.

However, if she thought that everything would be simply calm and lovely for Phoebe in these last weeks before the birth of her child, she was wrong. There seemed to be no end to the mischief that someone, using Aunt Henrietta as a mouthpiece, was bound and determined to cause. One day, as she, Phoebe, and Catherine were sitting quietly in Phoebe's living room reading, Mrs. Fowler decided to make an appearance. Although better put, Aunt Henrietta had decided that she should make an appearance.

"Yoo! Hoo! Mrs. Everett!" she called, as she walked in uninvited.

"Which one?" asked Catherine sharply, giving her a rather scathing look.

"Why the one who lives here of course!" she exclaimed. "The Princess has a message for you!"

Emmeline saw Phoebe immediately tense.

"Shall I toss her out before this goes any farther?" she asked drily.

Phoebe looked unsure. In the intervening moment, Mrs. Fowler launched into her message.

"The Princess wants you to know that you must be very careful of your cousin," she said quickly, probably knowing that at any moment either Catherine or Emmeline would indeed toss her out. "She brings danger to you all."

Now it was Emmeline's turn to roll her eyes.

"Yes, we do know all that," she said impatiently. "Bad karma follows me and I will come to a bad end. Did she throw in the bit about my brother Liam and his bad temper bringing disastrous consequences to himself, for good measure?"

Mrs. Fowler looked uncertain, which meant that she probably had. Emmeline stood up to get rid of her before she said anything that might cause any real anxiety on Phoebe's part. Catherine appeared to be breathing fire.

"But, wait!" she continued. "The innocent will suffer when the blinding light comes!"

"Out!" roared Catherine. Mrs. Fowler beat a hasty retreat, mumbling to herself as she scuttled off.

"So what is all this rot about a blinding light and the innocent suffering?" asked Emmelne, pretending that she hadn't heard this latest prediction.

"We don't know," replied Catherine, now playing along. "But the message is nothing new. Except that we now know that the dangerous cousin is you."

"I wonder what danger I bring?" asked Emmeline, with a sardonic grin. "Perhaps I bring the blinding light."

Phoebe tried to smile, but it was obvious that she didn't want to laugh this off as she might have back at Christmas. Oh dear, thought Emmeline, those pregnancy hormones really are wreaking havoc on her emotions. No wonder everyone was doing his or her own best to keep her calm and content. This hodgepodge of wicked portents was Auntie's usual scatter shot approach at getting a few things right. And they were so vague that she could then easily manipulate future events to suit her purposes.

"Phoebe," she said gently. "All this rot is no better or worse than her typical prophetic stew. A year ago you would have laughed it off as easily any Figalilly who knew better would. Someone needs to have a sit down with her and tell her that she needs to stop thinking about money and start thinking about what's best for you and the baby. It's her old friend, filthy lucre, that motivates her now, not any bona fide message from the beyond."

"Are you sure that this is all that it is?" asked Phoebe apprehensively.

"Well, I can think of one easy prediction that she hasn't even tried to make yet," replied Emmeline cheerfully.

"What is that?" asked Catherine, now puzzled.

"Everyone in the family who has seen Phoebe knows that she is carrying a girl who she's going to name after her Mum," she said with a grin. "Everyone that is, _except _Auntie. And if she knew it, she'd say it. Because by being right, she would double her client list in one fell swoop."

Now Phoebe smiled.

"Someone _did_ mention that a while back," she said. "I suppose that I have been so concerned with what she _is _saying, that I've forgotten to pay attention to what she is _not _saying."

"That's about all there is to it, love," replied Emmeline, with a shrug. "Now of course the little one is going to avoid her, but I suspect that that's more about you than about her."

"Why is that?" asked Catherine.

"Trelawney knows what she's about and I don't think that she scares her anymore," said Emmeline. "But she doesn't want to start her up saying these things that upset Phoebe here. She's right, you know. And nothing that I'm hearing seems to have anything to do directly with the girl anyway. Other than I am now a danger to her as well as you."

"Is Aunt Henrietta always this transparent?" asked Catherine.

"When she's trying to do a bit of her own manipulating," replied Emmeline. "Yes, she is. Remember she's really quite shallow and not very bright. I'm guessing that since you've all been ignoring her for the past few weeks, that she's trying to get your attention again. You know, kind of like a small child who feels shunted aside."

Emmeline could see that her own lighthearted analysis was calming Phoebe. Phoebe knew the old bat as well as any of them in the family, but things were different for pregnant women of their race. Her own Mum had told her as the mother's focus became more entirely centered on the life within, the prescience and ability to understand the subtext of life all but vanished. It could be very frightening for someone like Phoebe who was usually in control.

However, in a month or so the child would be safely born and then a new set of instincts would kick in. As a mother she would not only be more sensitive to the undercurrents of life, she would have the strength to deal with any threats to herself or her child. It was that very powerful protective force of the mother.

Emmeline could see that Phoebe had returned to her book. Catherine was still looking at her with questions in her eyes, but she just shrugged. There was really nothing left to say. Auntie's latest ploy had failed. All they could do was sit tight and wait for the next one.

**Summer Haze**

One of the tricky parts of living in southern California was surviving the hot, dry summers. This summer was hotter and drier than usual and that could only mean one thing: brush fires and wildfires. They usually started up in the hills and canyons either by lightening or careless campers. The forest service and local firefighters were always on the alert. Their primary goal was to keep them away from populated areas and not to burn out too many desolate areas, especially if scorched hills could lead to mudslides later on during the rainy season.

Rob had been living in California for forty years, although he had mostly resided in the northern part of the state, which was less prone to wildfires. As they reached the midpoint in the summer, the somewhat familiar haze settled on the horizon to the east that indicated that fires were burning outside of town. Since they were pretty far out in the hills, he wasn't worried.

He was very much enjoying chauffeuring Butch around to his baseball practices and games. At the age of ten, Butch was all-boy. He had also developed into quite an athlete. His eye-rolling indifference to difficult situations and the remarks of others had translated into his becoming a very fine relief pitcher. But he sometimes became impatient with his teammates.

"Grampie," he once said. "I don't see why the other guys just don't do what they need to do when things get tight. It's like they let themselves get too nervous or something."

"I think that you've just answered your own question there, Butch," said Rob. "They get nervous and they mess up. They all can't be like you."

"Why not?" asked Butch, as if the answer were obvious.

"I can't answer that for you," he replied. "Because everyone is different. But you shouldn't be so hard on your teammates. If they realize that you are annoyed at them when they make mistakes then it will only make them more nervous."

Butch thought on that for a while.

"But when we encourage them, you know, when they're at the plate," he said. "Then they get all nervous too."

Now it was Rob's turn to think. For a kid who was a self-proclaimed dummy, his grandson was awfully perceptive.

"Well, Butch," he finally said. "I think that one of the differences between you and most of the other players on your team is that you each have different roles."

"What do you mean?" asked Butch.

"Most of the guys on your team are either in the starting line up or they come in off the bench when they are needed," he explained. "A first baseman or an outfielder or even a starting pitcher has a pretty good margin of error. Chances are, especially in the early innings, that one mistake won't blow the whole game."

"Yeah," said Butch. "That sounds right."

"Now in your case, as a relief pitcher," he went on. "One little mistake can blow the whole game. So every time that you go in, you are working under that pressure. If you couldn't keep your cool in tight spots, you'd be pretty useless as a reliever now, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah," he said. "That makes sense. So then what you're saying is that the other guys get so nervous when things get tough because they don't have to be nervous all the time."

"Something like that," replied Grampie. "So you really shouldn't be so hard on your teammates. You know as well as I do that you can't really "practice" those tight spots. You have to live them. You live them every time that you go into a game. When things get tight and you're on the bench, the most important thing for you to do is always be supportive and show that you believe in the guys out in the field."

Once again, Butch thought long and hard about that one. Rob knew that of the three children, Butch was the most sensitive. Under that tough guy exterior was a kid who really cared about his family and friends. Hal might be the "book smarter" brother, but Butch had a lot going for him too. It was just going to take a little longer for the rest of the family to see it.

It was now the third week in July and things were tinder dry. Butch had an away game that was in a town up in the hills to the east. Since Emmeline was there, Hal wanted to go with Rob and Butch. The five "women" would stay at Rob's house while they were gone. It was too hot for them to do anything anyway. Before they left, Trelawney pulled him aside. She had one of her odd expressions on her face.

"Please drive safely," she said quietly.

"I always drive safely," he replied with a smile.

Her expression became more serious.

"Beware of the blinding light," she whispered and ran off to play with Prudence.

Rob shook his head. It was one of those cases where he wished that he could figure out how her mind worked. There was obviously something to what she was saying, but damned if he knew what it was.

The game was almost two hours away from town. It was normally a very picturesque drive, but most of the lower vegetation was browned out and the trees looked pretty dry. From a couple of the vistas along the road, they could see patches of smoke. As they got closer to their destination, there was the faint smell of burning wood in the air.

"Is this normal for this stage of the summer down here?" he asked Hal.

"Only really dry summers," answered his son. "And you never really know where the wildfires will crop up."

"I wonder if the game will be called because of the smoke?" pondered Rob.

"I hope not," said Butch. "It would be a real pain if we had to drive all this way for nothing."

"Yes, it would," said Rob, but his mind was only half on the conversation. He had noticed that there seemed to be a pretty fair amount of smoke gathering on the hill not far from the road above them.

Hal didn't seem to notice. He was busy explaining about particulate matter to Butch and why it could be harmful to his lungs if he engaged in strenuous physical activity under certain atmospheric conditions. He caught Butch's eye in the rearview mirror and Butch shook his head. Rob looked back at the road, mentally rolling his eyes. He could see why Butch would rather drive to games with him rather than his father.

The game was played at a park outside of the town. Like everything else, it was hot and dry. In addition, the wind was blowing. By the fifth inning, both teams' water coolers had run dry and some of the kids were looking sunburned. After talking with the coaches, the umpire announced that the game was called on account of weather. At this point, Butch's team was ahead. Because they had played the minimum five innings, it counted as a win for them.

This did little to elevate Butch's spirits. By the time they got back to the car, he was grumbling because in addition to the fact that they were spending more than twice as much time driving as they had playing, he had spent the whole time on the bench. Hal commented that he was very impressed by that little bit of mental math, and Butch rolled his eyes at him. Not knowing when to quit, Hal added that he could be a very fine math student in school if he would just put his mind to it.

Before Butch could make a fresh retort, Rob offered to take them out to eat at a local hamburger joint and finish off with ice cream. That lifted Butch's spirits a little. While eating, they became engaged in a conversation about Major League Baseball and before he knew it, Rob realized that it was getting late.

As they were leaving the restaurant, the cashier remarked, "If you're driving back down to the valley you better watch out. There are some patches of brush fires along the road."

"Anything big?" asked Rob, feeling a bit anxious.

"Not too big," replied the cashier somewhat sanguinely. "Most of the time the road acts as a firebreak and they die out."

"Man!" said Butch, as they got in the car. "This could be neat. I wonder how many of the guys have seen a real brush fire up close?"

"Well," said Hal. "This is one guy who hopes that he doesn't."

"Why not, Dad?" asked Butch, mischievously. "I'm sure that there must be some scientific stuff that you would find really groovy to observe. That could be kind of cool."

"The only cool that I want to see," answered Hal. "Is a cool rainstorm or something like that. A brush fire is not a curiosity that you want to see up close and personal."

"Like Aunt Henrietta?" teased Butch. Rob could see that he was on a roll and couldn't resist needling his Dad a little more. Hal took the bait.

"Let's leave her out of this," he said. "She isn't a curiosity even on her best day."

Butch opened his mouth to reply, but Rob decided that enough was enough.

"Okay, you two," he said sternly. "I need to concentrate on my driving. This ridiculous conversation is officially over."

Rob didn't miss the look that passed between father and son. They both rather looked like two boys both being disciplined by their father. But then he turned his attention back to the road. He wished that he knew another way back to town. He could see the thunderheads building to the southwest, the exact direction that they were going in.

Now that they were on their way out, he realized that there were not likely to be too many pay phones between here and town. He was sorry that he had no way of contacting Catherine to let her know that they were on their way back later than the others. He hoped that they wouldn't find out that the game had been called early.

**Lazy Daze**

Before she had known that Hal was going to want to attend Butch's baseball game, Catherine allowed Trelawney to invite Sarah Tucker over to spend the day. Because she was concerned that this would now leave Prudence on the outside, she called up Janet and asked if the two younger girls, Hannah and Miriam might also come for a play date. Hannah was a year older and Miriam was a year younger than Prudence, so the ages would match up well. Janet agreed and offered that Topher would drive them all over in the van. As usual, when Trelawney saw Topher, she threw herself into his arms.

"This is lovely!" she cried. "It is always splendid to see my gallant knight!"

Topher gave her a hug back and Sarah smiled indulgently. The two little girls looked confused.

"Why is she making such a big fuss over Topher?" asked Hannah. "He's just our big brother."

"But Trelawney knows that she can always count on him to help when things are difficult," replied Sarah, with understanding. "He's kind of like her hero."

"Well, he's just my annoying, old big brother," scoffed Miriam. "He acts like he's Daddy or something."

"I know what you mean," said Prudence. "My brother Hal acts that way too. I've been there."

Phoebe now smiled at Catherine. They both knew that Prudence adored Rachel, their older sister, and that that was one of her favorite expressions. The look on Sarah's face told her that she knew it too. But Topher had to leave.

"One of our customers has a loose limb on a tree hanging over his house from the last windstorm," he explained. "I promised to help the crew bring it down before the next storm."

"Are we due for another storm?" asked Phoebe.

"Yeah," said Topher. "The forecast is calling for high winds and thunderstorms later this afternoon. I hope that we get the rain, but if it rains too hard then most of it will run off and not help at all with the dry earth. Everything has been browning out now for the past few weeks."

"Topher knows all about that stuff now that he's a landscaper," said Sarah proudly.

"Yeah," agreed Hannah. "And Mr. Smartypants never stops _yacking _about it."

"I've heard that there are some brush fires up in the hills east of town," said Catherine.

"Me too," answered Topher. "But you'll never see that kind of thing in this part of town. Too many houses and the fire department would get there too quick. Nope, the bigger problem is losing electricity because of wind or lightening."

"Well, I'm ready for that," said Catherine. "I've got candles and flashlights and I just put new batteries in the transistor radio."

"Sounds good!" replied Topher. "As long as you've got food in the fridge then you'll be all set. See you later!"

With a cheerful grin, he waved goodbye. Trelawney and Sarah went up to her room and the little girls went into the backyard. One of Rob's projects with Butch this summer had been to construct a playhouse out back there for Prudence and Trelawney. As usual it was a work of art, although she had to admit that she hadn't been much better when it came to decorating it.

She and Phoebe had sewn curtains and made a tablecloth for the table and chair set that she had found for almost nothing at a garage sale. True to form, Rob had shown Butch how to sand and refinish it. By the time they were done, the playhouse was more along the lines of an extra playroom.

It even had shutters that closed against the weather. If Rob hadn't been using it as a means of teaching Butch some more carpentry skills, then she might have accused him of spoiling Prudence, who would certainly get more use from it than the older girl. And of course little Maisie and all of Phoebe's other children would enjoy it.

With the children now settled, she, Phoebe, and Emmeline could relax in the living room, which was not as hot as it might have been. Air-conditioning was a little pricy for such a large house, but Rob, with some help from Hal, had installed ceiling fans in a few of the warmer rooms, including the living room and kitchen. The circulated air was pleasant. And Catherine had never really cared much for air-conditioning anyway.

"Phoebe," asked Emmeline. "Don't you ever miss all of the greenery at home? You do love to garden and right now everything seems so brown and dry."

"Well, yes," admitted Phoebe. "There are days when I miss the soft rains and the green fields. But it also nice to be able to make outdoor plans and not worry about them being cancelled."

"Yes," said Emmeline. "I suppose that that is true."

"It all depends on what you are willing to adapt to," commented Catherine. "I grew up in the northeast, in Connecticut, where it is also greener than here in California. It is also colder and snowy in the winter. When we first moved here I missed the four seasons, but now I have grown accustomed to the climate."

"I am presuming that you moved out here because of your husband's career?" asked Emmeline.

"That's right," said Catherine. "That's the way it usually is."

"Catherine has a PhD in English literature," added Phoebe. "She might have had a university career of her own, but she chose to raise a family."

"Really?" said Emmeline curiously. "No regrets, I'm guessing."

"None at all," answered Catherine. "I eventually did teach high school when the boys were old enough. But when I see what Hal's career is like, I'm glad that I never pursued that possible avenue."

"Me too," said Phoebe fondly. "Then my life would certainly have been different."

Catherine did not miss the fond smile that Emmeline gave her cousin. They seemed to be an odd pair. Phoebe was so gentle and homely. Emmeline was much more sophisticated and a world traveler, doing whatever it was that she did. Phoebe of course had also been a world traveler, but she had traveled about working with families and making them whole. Yet their lifelong friendship had its roots back in their small village. Different as they might seem now, they must have, at some point in time, had more in common.

Around noon, she called all the children together for lunch. Catherine was pleased to see that the three little girls were all getting along. Sometimes three is a difficult number for girls to play in. Someone was often left out. However Catherine knew that Prudence was pleased to have her own playmates, rather than just "sharing" Trelawney's. She was no doubt making both of the other girls feel welcome and included. After all, she had a lot of experience being the odd girl out. She had been there.

"I wish that we could all go to school together," said Prudence wistfully at lunch.

"You will when you get to middle school," said Sarah. "Both of your elementary schools feed into the same middle school."

"Why?" asked Hannah with a giggle. "Is it hungry?"

But Sarah just rolled her eyes.

"See what I have to live with?" she asked Trelawney.

But Trelawney didn't agree. Catherine noticed that a shadow of melancholy fell over her face. Sarah reacted right away.

"I'm sorry, Trelawney," she said. "I forgot that you really would like to have annoying little sisters."

Trelawney gave her a faint smile. Then Prudence responded.

"Don't worry, Sarah," she said. "Trelawney has me and I'm annoying just like a little sister."

Everyone laughed and Prudence looked confused.

"Don't worry, love," said Emmeline. "I believe that you meant to say that you were like an annoying little sister."

"Is there a difference?"

"I don't think so," said Hannah. "I think that either way, big sisters always find little sisters annoying."

"Are you saying that I'm annoying?" asked Miriam who was now miffed.

"Don't worry about it," said Trelawney looking at her own older sister. "I am sure that there are times when Phoebe finds me very annoying."

But Phoebe seemed to want to end the conversation.

"This is getting quite silly," she said. "We all know that Emmeline here is the most annoying little sister of all."

"Oh yes," Emmeline nodded. "It's been many the time that I have gotten great enjoyment out of annoying my older brothers and sisters."

"How many big brothers and sisters do you have?" asked Miriam eagerly.

"Five," she answered. "So we're even. I know. We can start a club, you and me. The Society for the Annoyance of Older Siblings."

"Can I join?" asked Hannah.

"Do you have any younger siblings?"

"I have a younger sister," she said looking at Miriam.

"Then you're out," she replied. "This is a very exclusive club, only for the very youngest in the family."

"So I'm in," commented Trelawney.

"So am I," said Prudence.

"Only until the baby knocks you out," responded Trelawney.

Everyone laughed.

"I don't care," said Prudence with a toss of her head. "I'd rather have a baby sister or brother than be in your dumb old club anyway."

She went over and put her arms around Phoebe and kissed her large tummy. Catherine watched as Phoebe put her arms around the little girl and kissed her head.

"That's very sweet, Mrs. Everett," said Sarah. "It's almost like she's your real daughter."

"She is my real daughter," said Phoebe softly, and tightened her hug around Prudence.

"And she's my real Mommy," said Prudence. "I have an angel Mommy too, who was my Mommy when I was born. Sometimes I say that this Mommy is my earth Mommy instead of my real Mommy, but my Nana said that an earth Mommy is a real Mommy too, even if you already have an angel Mommy. So you see, Mommy really is my real Mommy."

The three Tucker girls now looked very confused. Trelawney looked very amused.

"Just go with it," she said. "If you ask any more questions you'll just get more befuddled."

Later than afternoon, as the sky began to grow dark and the wind picked up, Catherine began to feel concerned about the three men. Topher came back to pick up the three girls. Catherine called to the girls that they should come and met him at the door.

"Oh," he said. "Aren't the guys back yet?"

"Why?" Catherine asked. "Should they be?"

"Ricky Jones who lives at the house we were working on got back a couple of hours ago," he replied. "The game was called after five innings because of the heat. As they were driving back they could see a couple of brush fires not far from the road."

"Oh, dear," said Catherine, dropping her voice so that Phoebe couldn't hear. "I wonder where they could be?"

"Somewhere between here and there," said Trelawney quietly from behind her. "But probably closer to there. Perhaps they will call."

"Well," said Topher, now lowering his own voice. "Maybe they won't, if say, the phone lines are down."

"Come on, girls," said Catherine, trying to move the girls out of the house and towards the van before Phoebe could overhear them. Seeing her intent, Topher hustled the girls into the van. Before he left, he turned to her.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Everett," he said. "Your husband and Professor Everett are two smart guys. I'm sure that they'll be home soon. And if they're not, well. Think of it this way: they aren't taking any chances. They've hunkered down somewhere to ride out the storm safely."

Then he looked over her shoulder and Catherine turned to see Trelawney looking at him very seriously. He looked back at her with equal gravity. For a single moment, they seemed to be flashing some unspoken communication between them.

"Yes," she said quietly, but firmly.

She watched as she then turned and walked back to the house.

Catherine turned back to the young man who now looked very thoughtful. But before she could say anything else, he turned and got into the van without a word.

As he pulled away she heard him say, "I'll drop you off at home, girls. I forgot that I had to pick something up."

_To be continued . . ._


	4. Chapter 4

**Fire and Rain**

When they finally set out to return home from Butch's abbreviated baseball game, Hal was a bit concerned that they had spent so much time up in the town. Dad had wanted to cheer Butch up by getting them lunch before the long drive home, but now Hal thought that it might have been a better idea to cheer him up once they actually got back home. To west, there were storm clouds and in between home and here was the threat of brush fires. The wind was rising and there was something ominous about the darkening sky.

When he realized how late they were, Dad stopped at a gas station to call Mother, only to find out that the pay phone there was out of service. After prudently topping up his tank with gasoline, they began the slow ride home just as the wind was picking up. As the sky darkened, it seemed to be closer to twilight than daylight.

Fortunately Butch viewed it all as a big adventure. He was fascinated by everything going on around them, from the smoke in the hills to dark clouds gathering below. Even the wind was continuing to pick up. Hal was trying to remember if there had been any other stopping points along the road before they hit town, but now he recalled that it was a pretty desolate stretch of highway. There were other intersecting roads that he knew must go somewhere, but without a map there wasn't much they could do about it. This was no time to go exploring.

The radio wasn't offering much information. It was always hard to pick up stations out where they were, surrounded by the hills, but now the lightening flaring up in various directions caused interference. They briefly picked up one report of brush fires in the area and thunderstorms due in town by five, but they really didn't need to listen to the radio to know that. Since all they were getting was lots of static anyway, Dad eventually snapped it off. And the wind kept picking up. They could see that from the car windows as the trees and brush were blowing almost horizontal in some places.

Slowly they continued their descent out of the hills and into town. At one point, they could actually see the flames of a smoky brush fire up one of the hills from the car. Butch quickly sobered up when he realized that the drive wasn't some kind of a carnival ride. The danger was very real.

As always, Dad projected calm and confidence, but his white knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel betrayed his inner tension. The air was becoming thick with smoke and visibility grew poor. Dad turned on the high beams, but they hindered more than helped as they reflected off the sooty air. Hal looked at the odometer to try and figure out how far they still had to go, but he only had a vague idea of what the mileage had been when they had left the other town.

"Why aren't there any other cars on the road?" asked Butch suddenly.

He and Dad were silent.

"Do you think that they know something that we don't know?" asked Butch.

Probably, Hal thought, but answered, "No, I think that we're just the only ones traveling at this time."

"Well," said Butch. "I think that they do know something and it's something not good."

"Put a lid on it, Butch!" replied Dad tensely. "I can't concentrate on driving with all your yammering."

Butch looked surprised and then nervous. Hal knew that if his father was becoming impatient with Butch that he must be pretty worried. Hal looked around and realized that he couldn't even be sure of where they were anymore. If they were caught in a heavy rainstorm, the smartest thing to do would be stop and ride it out.

But if they were surrounded by the brush fires then it could be better to keep moving, even if only very slowly. The closer that they got to town, the less likely that it was that they would run into an actual fire. And the coming rain would certainly tamp it down.

When the rain hit, it too was almost horizontal. Thunder and lightening were crashing around the car. Hal was thankful that the rubber tires grounded the car, so they had no fear from the lightening, but the road was becoming slick and visibility was just about zero. Although there were no actual mudslides, the loose ground was now coating the pavement with a thick mire that made it difficult to tell where the roadsides began and ended. It was also an older road and the drainage was poor.

They were at a point in the road where it was both hilly and curving, a challenge to drive even in good weather. Tensely Dad told them to buckle their seat belts if they hadn't already. Dad had a large, late model sedan that was relatively easy to maneuver and built like a tank. Nothing made his father more nervous on the road than careless drivers. He always said that he wanted to be well protected in case of an accident. Although he and his brothers often teased him about his paranoia, at this particular time, Hal was grateful for it.

He knew that his father was in a quandary. Should he keep driving or pull off the road? Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to tell where it might be safe to pull off. Out here in the middle of nowhere there were no guardrails. Slowly, they were inching their way towards town. Hal knew the road relatively well, but it was now impossible to see landmarks. The inside of the car was getting steamy, but the car had no air conditioning and it was impossible to open the windows without becoming soaked. He saw the beads of sweat forming on his father's forehead and realized that they were now in a fairly grave situation.

Hal lacked the faith of his wife, Phoebe, but over the past year he had seen the hand of God working in many, and often mysterious, ways. The premonitions of Aunt Henrietta came into his mind of the "blinding light" and "three lives hanging in the balance." And of course the "innocent would suffer." He thought of his wife, eight months pregnant and waiting for him to return home to her. He thought of his other two children and the one sitting in the backseat trying to be brave.

He looked over at his father who he knew was also thinking of them and his wife of almost fifty years. Then he thought of Trelawney, the funny little girl who called him her gallant knight. At the moment he was not feeling especially gallant. And then he thought of his first wife Helen and the courage with which she had passed the last days of her life. Helen, like Phoebe, had had a great faith in God, especially towards the end. And what had Trelawney called her? An angel. She was Prudence's angel Mommy.

Trelawney had always believed that Helen had wanted him to marry Phoebe to provide a loving mother for his children. She had even won over Bernice, Helen's recalcitrant mother, into accepting her as his new wife. He had only just recently rediscovered the beauty of the child and her faith in God and angels. It was one of the many things that he did not want to lose.

But he also recalled that Phoebe's parents had lost their lives on a lonely mountain road in the dark. In all probability, the last thing that _they _had seen was the blinding light of the truck coming towards them. For them there had been no escape. Emmeline had told them that it had happened in the blink of an eye and they probably never knew what hit them.

As the car began to slip and slide along this lonely mountain road, he could feel himself praying to Helen, asking her to intercede so that their children would not be orphaned by this storm. He was afraid of what could happen to Butch, huddled in the backseat such as he was. He feared that such cataclysmic news might harm Phoebe and Maisie. He prayed that God would take them into His care and that the foolish words of that silly old pagan Aunt Henrietta would come to naught.

A huge lightening bolt struck close to the car, illuminating everything for a brief second. As the thunder crashed very nearly on top of them, suddenly the car skidded wildly. Dad did his best to turn the wheel into the skid but the next thing he knew they were sliding downhill. They stopped with a thud and they all snapped forward and back in their seat belts.

Hal looked around. Dad and Butch looked back at him. All three of them were stunned, but alive and well. As they gradually realized that they had survived the crash uninjured, the next thought that came into Hal's head was, where the hell were they? And how long would it be until somebody found them? In the intervening time, what else might happen?

**Those Who Sit and Wait**

Phoebe was beginning to feel very anxious because Hal, Butch, and Rob had not returned yet. Catherine turned on the television to a local station to try and get some news. What they heard did not sound too promising. There were thunderstorms sweeping up to town from the southwest, bringing with them damaging winds. Catherine pulled out her flashlights, candles, and battery powered radio just in case of a power outage. The sky was growing very dark.

The television station also reported brush fires up in the hills not far from the state park where she and Hal had enjoyed hiking and stargazing. They recommended that drivers stay off that particular area of highway. Now Phoebe could really feel her anxiety rising. She knew enough about that area to know that they would have to drive back on that particular bit of highway in order to get back to town. The very thought made her feel queasy. Maisie seemed to give her several kicks of agreement. Sensing her rising anxiety, Catherine sat beside her and patted her hand.

"Don't worry, dear," she said in a comforting voice. "You know how cautious Rob is. I'm sure that they are riding out the storm in a safe place."

"Then why don't they call?" she asked.

"Perhaps they couldn't get through," she replied. "You know that storms like this bring down phone lines as well as electrical lines."

"It just seems like they have been gone for longer than they should have," she worried.

"Maybe the game went into extra innings," suggested Trelawney, even though she knew it wasn't true. But while Trelawney never lied, she was not above a little subterfuge when it suited her. And she had said, maybe.

"You know when we played that team at home it was a very close game," she added.

"Yes, of course," said Catherine a little too quickly. "And if they won, no doubt Rob would have taken them out for a victory dinner."

"I bet Butch was the hero," said Prudence, putting in as her two cents. "I bet that he saved the game"

"Well, that settles that!" said Emmeline heartily. "The game ran long. Butch was the hero. And Rob took them out to eat so that they could celebrate. The weather turned nasty and so they stayed up in town until it passed, but then they couldn't call because the phone lines were down."

"So when will they be home?" asked Phoebe uncertainly.

"After the storm passes, of course," said Emmeline. "And then they'll laugh at us because we worried over nothing."

Phoebe turned back to the television. She couldn't be entirely sure, but she knew that a couple of the brush fires were close to the highway that they were traveling. She did not really believe a word that Emmeline or any of the others had just said. Suddenly, there was knock at the front door and they all jumped.

Catherine rushed over to open it and who was standing there but Pastor Jason.

"Hey, everyone!" he said with his usual cheerful grin. "How are you all doing this afternoon?"

"Pastor Jason!" cried Trelawney. "How marvelous of you to visit! And just as a storm is brewing too!"

"Well," he replied. "My wife and kids are out of town this weekend and I thought that I might be able invite myself to dinner. And I haven't seen you all in quite a while."

"What a splendid idea!" she continued. "You do know that Mama Kate makes the most scrumptious dinners! What are we having tonight?"

Phoebe was bemused as Catherine explained that she hadn't really thought about it. But she was sure that she could whip something up with whatever she had in the fridge. She asked the girls to come and help her, leaving her and Emmeline with Pastor Jason.

"Well," he said cheerfully. "It looks as though I have crashed some kind of a sorority party."

"Butch had a baseball game out of town today and Rob and Hal drove him up," replied Emmeline. "But they're not back yet."

"Well that's not very gentlemanly, leaving you ladies to fend for yourselves in what promises to be another rough storm," he commented.

"I think that we can manage quite nicely without them," responded Emmeline, with an amused look on her face. "We're quite self-sufficient, you know."

"Yes, I do know," he said. "Rumor has it that Trelawney's Mama Kate is more than a match for any threat to the family."

"Word of _that_ has even reached your ears?" chuckled Emmeline.

"There's very little that goes on in the town that doesn't reach my ears sooner or later," he said. "Of course once Mrs. Fowler knows about something, so does half of the western world."

"That sounds about right, but why are you really here?" she asked.

"Well, I really have been meaning to catch up with you all," he said. "And I really don't have anywhere else to eat, unless I cook for myself. _And _I'm really not known for my culinary talents."

Despite his and Emmeline's attempts to make light of everything, Phoebe was feeling more and more concerned. She knew that the little charade that they had played earlier about what the men were doing was intended to calm her fears. None of them had really believed it. Rob, Hal, and Butch were somewhere between here and the town in the hills, but nobody knew exactly where. And there was no way to find out. If only they would call.

Seeing that her attempts at levity had failed, Emmeline sat beside her and put her arm around her.

"See here, love," she said gently. "They'll be fine, you'll see. Storms like these are a nuisance because you have no way of knowing who is where if they're not close by."

But Phoebe was not convinced. Suddenly, a thought paralyzed her. She could feel her child begin to stir anxiously and felt a pain like a cramp. Emmeline felt her tense and gently stroked her hair.

"What is it, Phoebe?" she asked soothingly. "Tell your Cousin Em."

She looked up at Emmeline and said, "Three lives hang in the balance."

Emmeline and Pastor Jason exchanged a glance as bright lightening flashed and thunder boomed at almost the exact same time. They could hear the rain begin to teem down as the wind rushed past the house. Phoebe felt another stomach cramp.

"The blinding light . . ." she began.

" . . . is nowhere near Rob and the boys," she finished. "Love, this is no time to start making something of Auntie's premonitions. You know as well as I do that she's nothing more than an old faker. Take her too seriously and you'll never be rid of her."

But Phoebe was struck by another memory, of another dangerous motor trip that had resulted in the deaths of her parents. Like Hal and the others, they had been driving on a lonely mountain road when the blinding light came out of nowhere and snatched them away, forever. She began to shudder.

Pastor Jason sat on her other side, and put his arm around her as well. But she could find no consolation in the fatherly gesture. She bent forward as she felt another cramp and could feel the tears well up in her eyes. She was only vaguely aware of what might be happening to her, as her mind was consumed with fear for her husband, son, and father-in-law. She looked up. Pastor Jason's face now displayed deep concern.

"Emmeline is right," he said quietly. "They are all safe. You know the old saying that bad news travels faster than good. As far as we know the telephone lines have not been knocked out. No news is most probably good news. Try to stay calm."

"I do know that stretch of highway is very desolate," she said slowly, trying to convince herself but failing. "And knowing Rob, he'd be driving very slowly if it were too smoky."

Her throat was caught in a sob as the full realization of the potential tragedy of the situation swept over her. She began to feel very sick.

"Or if it was raining very hard," said Pastor Jason.

But she was no longer capable of responding. She felt herself sinking into a well of despair. She closed her eyes and felt a pain deep inside. She was fighting a battle with her own doubts. And she was losing.

"Look at me," said Pastor Jason sternly, as he sat back and released her. His voice dragged her back from the darkness that now enclosed her.

Phoebe looked up at him and he took her hands. The glow of his yellow aura turned into a deep golden color, the color of wisdom, of deep spirituality. She saw the white lights twinkling within, the sign of the presence of an angel. From his hands, she could feel the warmth of God's love flowing into her and through her. She then felt her restless child settle a bit, as the peace of God even entered her very being. She looked into his eyes and knew that they were both in God's hands.

Beside her, she heard Emmeline catch her breath. She remembered that Emmeline did not know who the angel was. In fact, she did not even really believe in angels. Her cynical mind had scoffed at the very notion, claiming that just because someone was very good, it did not make him an angel. Yet, Emmeline, like all Figalillys, could read auras. Pastor Jason was taking a very great risk by revealing himself to her. He nodded.

"Yes, Phoebe, I am," he said simply. "And yes, Emmeline I am. We really do exist. I came here tonight, because I was needed. In this case, the innocent will not suffer. The blinding light will come, but it will not destroy."

"No, it will not, Phoebe," said a sweet little voice from the doorway. Trelawney was standing there, very straight, with her hands neatly folded in front of her.

They all turned to look at her. Phoebe saw the deep, clear blue of her peaceful aura. It was a common sight these days. And within the blue, for the first time, for a single instant, she saw the twinkling white lights. The realization then struck her that Trelawney was truly a child of light.

"Mama Kate and Prudence are well occupied making dinner," she continued quietly. "They will not disturb us."

Phoebe stood up and held out her arms. Her sister walked into her embrace. She could feel the child's strength enveloping her, protecting her, strengthening her. She knew that it had happened before. She could hear Emmeline gasp once more. She guessed that no one had told her of the merged auras. She gently stroked her sister's hair, as the young girl softly spoke.

"Shh! My little Maisie," she whispered. "Your Daddy will be safe. Auntie Trelawney has made sure of that. There are always several gallant knights in every tale. And one right now is racing to the rescue. He will not fail."

Phoebe closed her eyes and held her tighter. Whatever she had done, this sweet little girl had, indeed, made it so. They would be safe. They would return. She could feel Pastor Jason helping her to sit down again and making room so that Trelawney could snuggle up to her. The child laid her hand upon her belly and gently stroked it. Then she felt Maisie respond. It was almost as if the child sensed Trelawney's strength, and sighed with relief. All was well for them both. There would be no more cramps.

Emmeline was restless. Phoebe knew that this powerful spiritual experience was greater than anything that she had ever known or imagined. She suspected that her days of being an agnostic were finally over. She could hope that anyway. There was no denying the hand and purpose of God in these events.

"What the bloody hell is this all about?" she said in wonder.

Pastor Jason looked at her and said, "We have just averted a potentially dangerous situation here for Phoebe and Maisie."

Trelawney nodded.

"I called for Pastor Jason earlier," she said. "I sent Topher to find him. I knew that only he had the power to help my poor Phoebe and my dear little Maisie. I could not do it alone."

"What are you talking about?" Emmeline asked, now completely bewildered.

"Pastor Jason is my angel, my very own guardian angel," she replied. "He guides me and protects me. But as I told you before, Phoebe borrows him from time to time. When Topher came to pick up the girls, he was not only very concerned for the three others, but for Phoebe as well. He had made a promise to Hal before he left. But he could not be in two places at once. So I told him to send us Pastor Jason."

"Where is Topher now?" asked Emmeline.

"He went to find the others," she said and then added as she turned to Phoebe, "Have no fear. Topher is also a child of light, although he doesn't know it. His light is not a blinding light. It is a steady golden light. It will bring them safely home through the darkness."

"Topher stopped off at the rectory before he left town," explained Pastor Jason. "He told me where he was going and why. And he told me that I was needed here."

Trelawney nodded once again.

"Yes," she said. "Topher knew that, but he didn't know that he knew that. He is indeed my gallant knight. Tonight, as well as saving our three men, he protected the two that I love best."

Emmeline looked at them all in amazement. Then she spoke. She said the words aloud that the others all knew in their hearts. For them, such knowledge needs no words. But because she lacked their deep faith, she could only believe them by speaking them. She was still not fully a true believer.

"If Pastor Jason had not come, then Phoebe would have gone into labor early. And we would not have been able to get her to the hospital on time," she said in realization. "Things would have been very precarious."

"Yes," said Trelawney. "But that didn't happen. And now it can't. Not today."

"What about tomorrow?" asked Emmeline.

"I do not know," replied the child. "It is not allowed."

"Emmeline," said Pastor Jason. "You must consider all that you have seen and heard today very carefully. It is the faith of her sister, and that of a very special young man, that ultimately saved Phoebe's child and the others, at least for today. You need to understand that you can do nothing without God's help. If you wish to take up the burden of being godmother to this very special child of light, then you must turn your heart towards God. Unless you do, you will not be able to adequately protect and guide her."

Phoebe looked at her cousin, praying that she would have the faith to commit herself in this way. She loved Emmeline more than any of her other extended family relatives. It had always grieved her that Emmeline refused to accept the light and truth of God in her life. This was her chance to begin anew. Trelawney was looking at her oddly.

"My Phoebe and my little Maisie need you, Em," she stated simply. "Please say yes to God."

Wordlessly, almost stunned, Emmeline nodded in agreement. Pastor Jason looked tenderly at Phoebe. Against all odds, she had been blessed with the gift of this most special child of light. As she returned his gaze, she felt her daughter almost leap with joy within her. Trelawney smiled at them all. Then without warning, she snapped back to her innocent, childlike self.

"Mama Kate will have dinner ready soon," she said as if nothing had happened. "I am now quite hungry."

She went skipping off to the kitchen as the three adults looked after her.

"How did she know?" asked Emmeline.

Pastor Jason exchanged a glance with Phoebe. That was one question that no one could answer, except God. And He keeps secrets better than anyone.

**The Guiding Light**

Topher made his way up through the hills, doing his best to stay ahead of the storm. His VW van was doing pretty well around the curves. Thank you, God, he thought, for that good old-fashioned German engineering. He could see the areas that were scorched or still burning, but he also knew that the approaching deluge would douse a lot of it.

He looked up at the St. Christopher statue set on his dashboard and then down at the medal he always wore around his neck. His Mom, though not terribly superstitious, had insisted that he put the figure there when he had first gotten the vehicle. The medal had been a gift from his Catholic grandmother who put faith in such things. She told him that it would serve as a reminder that, because he was named Christopher, he was always God's faithful servant.

To calm his mind, he focused on what he knew of St. Christopher who was his patron saint. He had heard it mostly from this same grandmother. He knew that he was a convert to Christianity, and persecuted during the late Roman Empire. He knew that the picture on the medallion as well as the figure on the dash, was of the saint carrying a small child on his shoulders.

St. Christopher had been an enormously strong man, and, once converted, had taken up the duty of helping travelers to cross a certain river with especially treacherous water. One day, a small child came and asked him to carry him to the other side. The farther he got into the river, the heavier the child became. When he finally reached the other side he expressed his amazement that the child had grown so heavy. Only then, he discovered that he had actually been carrying the Christ Child and with Him the burdens of the world, on his shoulders.

As a Presbyterian, he didn't think too much about saints, and didn't put too much stock in the story. He had liked it though. It had helped him to understand the meaning of his own name and life. During the work project last summer he had spent some time talking to Fr. Bob, the Catholic priest who was helping, about it. It was he who had explained to him that the name "Christopher" was derived from the Greek words for "Christ bearer." St. Christopher not only helped travelers, but also gave aid to anyone in need.

Topher thought about all of that as he continued up the mountain. As the rainstorm hit with a fury, he hoped that St. Christopher was out there on his side. He was going to need all the help that he could get to just make it to wherever the Everetts were. He knew that they needed his help. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew. He didn't know how she did it, but Trelawney had told him.

When he had gone to pick up his sisters at the Everetts' house, Trelawney had followed him out to the van. When he turned to look back at the grandmother, he noticed that from behind her, she was staring at him. Her gaze seemed to speak to him, asking for help. The most obvious thing that he could do was drive out to make sure that the guys were okay, but she seemed to want him to do something else.

Then he remembered how she always called Pastor Jason her angel because he was always there when she needed him. In a flash he remembered his conversation with the pastor when he had expressed his own fears about Mrs. Everett and the baby, because he had made a promise to Hal before he left for Cal Tech. He had promised to look out for them and keep them safe.

Trelawney's eyes seemed to indicate her knowledge of this, and she quietly said, "Yes."

Realizing this, he dropped the girls off at home. He still had some gear to return to his boss, but decided that this was more important. And besides, there was nothing that anyone could do with it in the rain anyway. He drove quickly over to the rectory. Pastor Jason was there alone. He gave him the short version of the story and concluded with, "I really think that Mrs. Everett needs you. And I'm going out to find the others."

"Do you have any doubts about this?" asked Pastor Jason seriously.

"None," he immediately replied. "This is what God wants me to do."

Pastor Jason nodded and gave him a quick blessing.

"I'll go over to stay with the women," he said. "Don't worry about them. Completely focus your mind on getting up to the men safely and bringing them home. This is the best way that you can help Mrs. Everett. And remember, God is with you."

Topher had nodded and left.

Right now, as his windshield wipers were furiously chugging back and forth, barely able to keep up with the rain as it pelted the van, he kept his mind firmly on his mission. Thankfully, there were no other cars on the road. It was now almost impossible to see, but as he came around a bend, he noticed a pair of headlights off to the side. Then he saw that they were actually lower than the road.

As he drew closer, he could see that a dark blue sedan had slid into a ditch, about twenty feet lower than the road. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that it was Mr. Everett's car. Oh, man! He thought. How am I going to get down there, much less get the three of them back up to the road? Then he thought of St. Christopher carrying the whole world on his shoulders. Two men and a kid could not possibly be that heavy.

After he pulled over, he looked around the back of his van to see what he had to work with. Fortunately, his work boots were still back there, and a sunhat that would help keep the rain off his face. But then he saw something that could not have been anything less than a miracle. Because he had not stopped to return them to his boss, he still had the ropes and rigging that they had used to bring down the tree limb earlier that day.

He had set the emergency brake, but now he also took the precaution of putting blocks under the wheels. Thunder and lightening were crashing all around him. He ignored it. This was no time to start to doubt himself. The Lord had brought him out here. He had given him the tools he needed to do the job. And the Lord would keep him safe.

He hooked the end of the rope to his front bumper and strapping on the harness lowered himself to where the vehicle was. It really wasn't that far down, but the hillside was so slippery with mud that he doubted that anyone could climb it without help. When he hit the ground, he went over to the car and knocked on the driver's side window.

The next thing he knew, he was looking into Mr. Everett's astonished face. In the passenger seat was the Professor and Butch was in the back.

"Nice day for ducks!" he said cheerfully. "That's what my Mom always says anyway!"

"Topher!" exclaimed the Professor. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Oh," he replied, trying to keep it light. "I heard that you were late getting back and I thought that you might need a little help."

"Well, you were wrong!" cried Butch. "We don't need a little help. We need a lot of help!"

"I can see that," said Topher, now getting serious. "I have the ropes and gear from the tree trimming work that we do at the landscaping business. I can use them to haul you guys out and then I'll drive you back to town. We're really not that far out. When the weather clears, you can send someone back out here to get the car."

"Son," said Mr. Everett. "I don't know who sent you, but you sure look like an angel to me."

"Who do you think sent me?" he asked. The three Everetts looked at each other knowingly. There was only one person with that kind of prescience, Trelawney.

"Now, I have a plan," he said. "I'll go back up top and send down the rope. You can hook in Butch, Professor, and I can pull him up. Then, you can hook in your Dad, and Butch can help me pull him up. We'll bring you up last."

"Sounds like a good idea," said the Professor.

"Good!" replied Topher. "We have no time to debate it. Now Butch, get on your cleats. It will make it easier for you to get traction on the hill."

"Wait!" said Mr. Everett. "Butch, my golf cleats are back there somewhere."

"Excellent," said Topher. "Then we'll be able to dig in to haul up the Professor. He's going to be the hardest because there won't be anyone left below to hold the rope steady."

"Dad," said the Professor. "You stay in here until you need to get out. Come on, Butch. I think that you're in for a very cool, albeit wet, ride."

As the Professor and Butch got themselves out of the car, Topher turned and breathed a sigh of relief. This crazy scheme might actually work, he thought. It felt like the diciest part was the thunder and lightening all around them, but they were all so concerned with getting everyone up to the road safely that no one even thought about it.

And it did. His scheme worked perfectly. He was strong enough to easily pull himself back up with the Professor holding the rope steady below. Butch was so light, that he came up in no time, and then Mr. Everett. The Professor came last. The two older men had surprisingly good upper body strength, probably from all the golf they played. Once Butch was on high ground and realized that they were all going to be safe, he got very excited. Topher had to tell him to cool it or he would be more of a hinderance than a help.

By the time they were all up, everyone was completely soaked. But nobody cared. Topher grabbed his gear and loaded it into the van. Fortunately, the rain was showing signs of easing off. He started up the van and drove them back down to town. He wanted to get them back to Mr. Everett's house as quickly as possible so that Mrs. Everett wouldn't have to worry anymore. He didn't have time to think about the huge risk that he had just taken or what it would mean to the family. He had to keep his eyes on the road.

**The Reluctant Hero**

After hours of anxious worry that by now felt like days, Catherine almost didn't believe it when Rob, Hal, and Butch showed up on her doorstep, soaked and bedraggled, but otherwise no worse for the wear. Hal didn't even wait to say hello, he immediately strode into the living room and the arms of his waiting wife. Within seconds, she was soaked with rain water and her eyes flooded with tears. As she now released her own tension, Catherine realized just how frightened she herself had been. In her concern for Phoebe and Maisie she hadn't had time to think about it.

She had a hug of her own for Rob. Butch also allowed himself to be hugged, but recoiled at the idea of being kissed. Coming up in the rear was Topher. All four of them, in addition to being soaked, were caked with mud. Their appearance told the story as much as their faces. But as usual when people come through traumatic events safely, as time passes, the story becomes more exciting and less frightening.

Catherine insisted that they clean up and dry off first. She was mostly concerned about her husband because at his age, it had been a rough experience. But Rob scoffed at her pampering. Still, she insisted on getting them all into the shower and found clothes that fit them all. She threw Topher's clothes into the washer with Butch's because she didn't really have anything on hand that was suitable for either to wear outside the house.

Pastor Jason went with Emmeline and the girls into the kitchen to add to the meal that she had prepared. Phoebe refused to leave her husband's side and insisted that

Butch sit by her as well, much to his disgust.

"Aw, Mom," he said. "It wasn't a big deal. I knew that Grampie would drive us home safely."

But Catherine could see that underneath his tough guy exterior, he was pretty glad to be home and was not as annoyed by his mother's fussing as he claimed. They decided on holding off telling the story until everyone was there, so they wouldn't have to repeat anything. Fortunately, they did not lose power, so Topher was able to call his mother to let her know that he was safe. When he got off the phone, he had a somewhat guilty expression on his face.

"Something tells me that I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do when I get home," he said sheepishly. "Mom is pretty darn mad that I didn't tell her that I was going to be so late. I had just told the girls that I had to pick up something."

"Well," said Trelawney. "That is true. It just took you a little longer than you had anticipated."

"You try and tell her that," he grimaced.

"I think that you're a hero!" declared the girl. "Once again my gallant knight has come to the rescue. Pity about the way it worked out though."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's like this," she explained. "Auntie is certain to hear about your little adventure and be sure to make the most out of it. But there is a bright side."

"And what might that be?" asked the Professor.

"We won't have to listen to anymore rubbish about the blinding light and the innocent suffering," she said grinning. "And I'm afraid that the three lives hanging in the balance, quite literally I might add, has been proved out also, but not with the dire circumstances that she alluded to. You should be very pleased with yourself, Topher."

"Why is that?"

"Because you have prevented three of her premonitions from coming true, of course!" she replied gleefully.

"Yes, love," said Emmeline. "But I wouldn't get too excited about that yet."

"Oh, Em," she replied. "Let's not be a wet blanket already."

"Poor choice of words, little one," she answered in amusement. "Auntie will now claim that because she had the premonitions, we were all on the watch for them. She will take credit for everyone's safety by saying that her warnings had us all on the alert, so to speak."

Trelawney opened her mouth as if to respond and then shut it. Emmeline was right. As usual, Aunt Henrietta would be able to talk her way out of this one.

Catherine could feel her own hopes that Aunt Henrietta would pick up and leave for good, dashed.

"That would be too easy, Catherine," said Emmeline. "As long as there's a penny to be made, you're stuck with her. This is sure to add to her value."

Catherine sighed.

"Aunt Henrietta or no Aunt Henrietta," commented Pastor Jason. "Everything has worked out for the best. And you all are not going to like this, but her "rubbish" as you call it, actually helped in this situation."

"How is that?" asked Rob.

"Is it okay if I tell now, Topher?" asked Pastor Jason.

"Yeah, why not?" he said.

Everyone else looked at Pastor Jason expectantly.

"Before your son, Hal, left town," he explained. "He asked Topher to keep an eye on you all. He was especially worried about Aunt Henrietta and the effects of her premonitions on you, Phoebe. Topher, of course, took his promise very seriously and has been keeping his ear to the ground, so to speak, with regard to her."

"So then you knew about the premonitions?" asked Catherine.

"I knew that she had started up again," relied Topher. "And what they were. I also found out that there were two kinds, the fake and the not so fake."

"Yes," said Emmeline. "That's usually the way they are. And the more premonitions that she has and predictions that she makes, the more difficult it is for her to keep them straight and for us to sort them out."

"It didn't take long for me to figure out that the more comprehensible they were, the more likely they were to be fake," said Topher. "She's a crafty old witch. But it's kind of hard to know what to do with the other stuff. Especially since now it looks like three have proved out and were avoided."

Trelawney was silent.

"She was missing a key bit, you know," she said quietly.

"What was that?" asked Rob.

"She made no allusion whatsoever to my gallant knight," she said as if she was thinking aloud. "You see, the lovely lady and the fair maiden were in grave danger. Even the good queen did not know. But Trelawney knew and sent the gallant knight to the rescue. He sent the angel to guard us and retrieved the wise gentleman, the gallant knight, and the young fool from danger."

"Hey!" shouted Butch. "Who are you calling a fool?"

"You, love," said Emmeline. "Especially if you don't hush up and let her speak. Trelawney, what do you think that means?"

"Auntie's mischief is only one-sided," she explained. "She will only predict the bad ends. We must figure out for ourselves how to subvert them."

"How can we do that, little one?" asked Emmeline, this time more gently.

"We must have the good king," she replied. "Phoebe, it is time."

Catherine looked at Phoebe, who nodded.

"Tom Williams is the good king," she said quietly. "It is he who has the power to protect both Trelawney and the baby from those forces who would work through Aunt Henrietta to cause them harm."

"What about me?" Hal asked. "I am the baby's father."

Trelawney looked at him.

"You are the gallant knight," she said softly. "The gallant knight protects the lovely lady and by protecting her, you also protect the fair maiden. But it is not the same. You no longer protect Trelawney. The fair maiden needs the protection not only of the gallant knight, but also the good king."

"What the heck are you talking about?" asked Butch, confused by Trelawney's usual jumble of archetypal explanations. "What does Papa have to do with this?"

"It is obvious now why you are the young fool," answered Trelawney matter of factly. "You do not understand why he is the good king."

"I know why," said Prudence, in her smart tone of voice.

"Why is that, love?" asked Emmeline.

"When Trelawney lived in England, _her _Papa was the good king," she explained. "Now _our _Papa is the good king."

"Of course, my wee fairy," said Trelawney, with a smile. "It is so simple that even a child can understand it. In fact, it took a child to understand it. Except that Phoebe knew, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Phoebe. "I knew that at home, Papa was the good king. It made sense that Tom, whom the children call Papa, would be the good king here. He is very much like Papa in many ways."

"So what does this all mean?" asked Catherine. "Tom doesn't live here in town. And technically, he's not even related to the baby."

"Tell them, Phoebe," said Hal, who had obviously made some connection of his own.

"Back on the day of the opening of the Science Fair," she explained. "Tom offered to stand in as a grandfather for the baby. He laid his hand on my stomach and the baby kicked. It was the first time that anyone other than myself had felt her move."

Catherine was silent. In fact everyone in the room was silent. It was an extraordinary bit of information, but looking back it made sense. Tom had always been very kindly towards both Phoebe and Trelawney. She also knew that the one time he had seen Aunt Henrietta's show he had been very disturbed. What Phoebe said next was no surprise.

"Tom should also be the baby's godfather."

Pastor Jason nodded. "He is worthy."

Catherine noticed that Pastor Jason had looked over at Emmeline when he said this. She looked away. No doubt, his words were meant to chide her and challenge her own worthiness as godmother. As she had said earlier, there was a certain irony in an agnostic being the godmother. But Pastor Jason clearly saw this as no joke. The godparents of Phoebe's unborn child would no doubt bear a heavy burden.

She looked over at the humble young man who had played a key role in saving the day in wonder. There had always been something about him that had fascinated her. As gifted and talented as he was, he never flaunted his abilities. Looking at the tall, lanky young man with the brown ponytail and long sideburns, all that she saw one of your typical teenagers. In fact, if she passed him on the street, she would have noticed nothing special about him, except that maybe he needed a haircut.

**Epilogue**

As Topher had predicted, his mother laid into him but good when he arrived home. In fact, she berated him for five minutes straight before he could a word in edgewise. It was his Dad who finally shut her down so that he could tell his story. When he finally had the opportunity to explain the situation that he had found when he had arrived to pick up the girls, she blew her cork again.

"I thought that I told you to mind your own business about that!" she snapped angrily.

"You told me to stay out of the middle of the stuff with Aunt Henrietta," he said mildly. "All that I did get Pastor Jason to go to the house to be with the women. And going out to find the men had nothing to do with her. And Pastor Jason gave me a blessing before I left."

"Well," she replied sharply. "It sounds as if I need to have a word with the Pastor about encouraging you to do reckless things."

Topher sighed.

"Mom," he explained patiently. "If I hadn't gone out, who knows how long it would have taken someone to find them? Mr. Everett is not a young man. And Mrs. Everett was real scared. Suppose something had happened to the baby? And there's one more thing."

"And what might that be?" she asked sarcastically.

"Before we left Jones' house, I offered to take the ropes, harnesses, and gear back to the boss," he replied. "But I didn't have time because first I had to pick up the girls and then I had to get Pastor Jason and _then _I wanted to find the Everetts. There is no way that I could have helped them out without that gear. Now don't you think that that is an awfully huge coincidence that I still had it with me?"

Topher's Dad was a taciturn man. And he left the raising of the children mostly to his wife since he had to work long hours just to keep up with the bills. However, he had done his best to instill the values of kindness and service into all of his children. He was very proud of his son. For once, he decided to speak up.

"Janet," he said. "When all is said and done, our son did a very brave thing tonight. He demonstrated through his actions all of the values that we have been working so hard all of these years to teach him. He had a very difficult choice to make and he chose to put the wellbeing of others before his own. Something tells me that this won't be the last time, so we better get used to it. Son, I'm damn proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad," answered Topher. "Pastor Jason and I had a talk a while back about how hard it was to do the right thing sometimes, but that didn't mean that you didn't do it. Mom, I'm sorry if I frightened you, but I had to do what I knew was right."

His mother looked uncertain, but finally agreed that Topher had done the only thing that he could do as a good Christian. And he _was _after all, living out the values that she and her husband had taught him.

The story of Topher's bravery circulated all over town the next day. He of course brushed off the compliments by saying that anyone would have done it. When Harvey Sloan called to ask for an interview for the local television station, he told him blast off. Aside from the fact that he didn't want the publicity, he had not quite forgiven him for the way that he had unmercifully pursued Trelawney the previous summer. Besides, the family had all agreed to withhold the most critical element of the story. That was the fact that Topher's brave action and its timing had calmed Phoebe so that she would not give go into labor too soon.

Without that information, at first, some people said that Topher had been foolish to take such a risk and that his gesture was reckless rather than brave. As usual, Topher shrugged it off. All that mattered to him was that Mrs. Everett and the baby were safe. Yeah, he knew that once the storm had passed that someone would have come along and gotten the guys out of the car, but who knew how long that would have been? Or what else might have happened. Then he found out that something much worse really could have happened.

When the wrecker went out to pick up the car the next morning, they discovered that it had slid further down the canyon and flipped. While that would probably not have been fatal, it would have generated a lot more fear and anxiety for everyone. And who knew how hard it would have been to find them after the women had finally realized that they weren't coming back that night? No, the critics were shut up and the faithful viewed it as divine intervention.

On Sunday evening, he got a call from Hal up at Cal Tech thanking him for taking care of his family. It was a pretty big deal, since he didn't have enough change for the pay phone to make the call, so one of his professors had let him use his phone. Apparently his Dad had called him to tell him the whole story about how he had gotten Pastor Jason to go look after the women while he went up into the hills after the men.

However, he knew that the story was far from over. He had to wonder about this guy Tom Williams that Mrs. Everett had said should be the godfather of her baby. He thought that it was pretty cool that he would offer to be a grandfather to Mrs. Everett's kids, even though they weren't even related. And since Mrs. Everett's own Dad had passed away, it was a really nice gesture.

Of course it was a little creepy that Mrs. Everett's father had been called Papa and that's what the Everett kids called Mr. Williams. But all of the good queen/good king stuff made sense if you knew Trelawney. She sure was some kid. Here was Aunt Henrietta trying to scare her off by telling her that she was bad for her sister and the baby and, _yet, _she was the one who actually saved them. It was weird that everything had worked out the opposite way that the "Princess" had predicted.

True to form, as soon as she heard about what happened, Princess Lotus Blossom began to squawk about how _she _was the one who had actually saved the day. Just as Emmelne had predicted, she manipulated the whole story for her own benefit. She pointed to the "blinding light," the "three lives hanging in the balance," and the "innocent suffering" as proof of her foresight. And of course if she had not warned them, they would not have been on the look out for these potential disasters.

As a result, she had more customers than ever. And as long as she had suckers to pay up, no one was going to budge her from town. For the time being, he decided that he would obey his mother and stay away from her. However, he still planned to keep watch over Mrs. Everett and Trelawney. Hal was not due back for another four weeks, and the baby was due to be born before then.

He knew that there were still a few predictions floating around out there. And he had a feeling that he would be needed again, but he just hoped that it wouldn't be too soon. It would be nice everything could stay calm until the baby was born. The time was coming close. He wondered if the baby would be a girl or a boy. Either way, he knew that everyone would be very relieved that the baby was safely there, he, no less than anyone else.

**The End**

_For those too young to remember, back in the 1970's, communication was relatively primitive. There were no cell phones or satellite navigation systems. For weather reports, one was reliant, not on satellite weather maps, but on whatever hit or miss reports the weather reporters made. Things have changed a lot in the last forty years!_


End file.
